Book. .M^ S 
Copyright N° : 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSITV 



STUDIES 

IN THE 

Book of Revelation 

" Other men laboured, and ye are entered into 
their labours " 



- 

BY 

WILLIAM G. MOOREHEAD, D.D., LL.D. 

Professor in Xenia Theological Seminary 



PITTSBURGH, PA. 
UNITED PRESBYTERIAN BOARD 
OF PUBLICATION 




1UBRARY Of CONFESS 
If wo Copies Receive 

APR 8 1908 

COPY Be 



Copyrighted, 1908 

BY 

THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF 
PUBLICATION 

Pittsburgh, Pa. 



PREFACE 



This little book is not a commentary on the Rev- 
elation; it does not aspire to such a dignity. It 
is designed to be just what its title announces — 
studies in the Revelation. Fc£ years the writer has 
deeply felt the lack of a satisictctory analysis of this 
book and a reasonable and helpful solution of its 
mysterious and marvellous structure. Reading it, as 
he has done, through a rather long life, he confesses 
he saw little or no connection between the various 
parts, he understood nothing scarcely of the articula- 
tion of its Visions, nor saw any definite, far-reaching 
plan running through it and binding its strange mem- 
bers into a harmonious and majestic unity. The 
studies of some months past, rather years, have served 
to open much of what for long was almost sealed 
and to pour light into many a dark place. The chief 
aim of this Study is to help the reader and student of 
the Apocalypse into an apprehension of the plan and 
the design of this great Scripture. Whether the writer 

iii 



IV 



PREFACE. 



has acnieved this aim or not must be left to others to 
judge. 

All available books have been freely used, some of 
which have proved very serviceable. Grateful acknow- 
ledgment is here made of the clear suggestions and 
wise criticisms of a personal friend, Dr. W. J. Erdman. 



William G. Moorehead. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGE 

Preface iii 

I. Authorship and Date 7 

II. Symbolism 15 

III. Systems of Interpretation .... 20 

IV. Plan and Structure 27 

V. Analysis — Three Forms 41 

VI. Epistles to the Seven Churches . . 46 
VII. Vision of Heaven Opened .... 58 
VIII. Opening of the Seven Seals ... 68 

IX. The Seven Trumpets 78 

X. The Intercalated Visions, chaps, xii, 

xiii, xiv 89 

XI. The Seven Last Plagues . . . .110 
XII. Interposed Explanatory Visions, 

chaps, xvii — xix: 10 . . . . . .116 

XIII. Advent of Jesus Christ, chaps, xix: 

11 — xx : 6 130 

XIV. Last Revolt and Final Judgment . . 144 
XV. Vision of the City of God . . . .148 

v 



THE REVELATION 



CHAPTER I. 
Authorship and Date. 

The study of this great prophecy is entered upon 
with much diffidence; almost with hesitation. Many 
regard it as so abstruse and obscure that any satis- 
factory interpretation of it is extremely difficult, if not 
hopeless. Only great scholars and lifelong students 
of the Bible are competent, it is thought, to deal with 
its profound mysteries, and even these are often baf- 
fled by its symbolism, and defeated by its depths. 
Others should not attempt its elucidation. Such is the 
feeling of many. 

Notwithstanding the difficulties, its study is imposed 
on all Christians. It is a part of the word of God. It 
bears the name and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Its august title is, " The Revelation of Jesus Christ 
which God gave to him to show unto his servants." 
It is an Apocalypse, an unveiling of what could not 
be otherwise known. It is for the instruction, guid- 
ance, and comfort of God's people. 

The prophet Daniel was bidden to " shut up the 
vision," to " shut up the words, and seal the book, even 

7 



8 



THE REVELATION. 



to the time of the end " (Dan. viii: 26; xii: 4, 9). 
But our Lord's command to John is : " What thou 
seest, write in a book, and send it to the seven 
churches," i: 11. The instruction of the revealing 
angel to the Seer when he is bringing the mighty 
visions of the prophecy to an end is, " Seal not up the 
words of the prophecy of this book; for the time is at 
hand," xxii : 10. Explicitly the Saviour declares, " I 
Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these 
things for the churches/' xxii: 16. The Revelation, 
therefore, is for the whole people of God; to them it is 
an unsealed book, and it is intended to be their teacher 
and their guide in things that very vitally concern 
them. 

Furthermore, a special blessing is promised to him 
who reads and to them who " hear the words of the 
prophecy, and keep the things that are written there- 
in/' i: 3. The public reading of the book in the 
assemblies of Christians is here recognized, which 
places it on the same plane with the other books of 
Scripture. Its Divine Author is thus at pains to 
exalt its importance, to commend its teachings, and 
to promise a rich reward for its study. Among the 
last words in the Bible is this gracious encourage- 
ment to the diligent student of the Apocalypse : " Be- 
hold, I come quickly; blessed is he that keepeth the 
words of the prophecy of this book/' xxii: 7. To 
keep these words one must know them ; to know them 
one must ponder them, and fill his mind with their deep 
teachings. They make a grievous mistake who look 
on the book as enigmatical, incomprehensible; or 



AUTHORSHIP AND DATE. 



9 



who, if granting it may be in measure understood, 
stigmatize it as impractical and profitless; as hav- 
ing little, if any, bearing on the believer's life. Let 
us turn to the book. 

L Who was its penman? Four times he called 
himself John, i: i, 4, 9; xxii: 8. There is no descrip- 
tion of him beyond his name, no word is there to in- 
dicate what John it was to whom the writing of the 
Apocalypse was committed. But it is not difficult to 
identify him. There is but one John to v/hom we 
would naturally suppose the Lord would entrust such 
a work, the John so intimately associated with Him 
during His earthly ministry, the " Beloved Disciple," 
the near friend of Jesus; John the apostle. There is 
scarcely any doubt but that the writer was this John, 
or one who sought to pass for him. We may at once 
put aside the notion of fraud or imposture. The 
spirit of holiness and truth which pervades every page 
of the book is incompatable with the spirit of false- 
hood. The internal evidence overwhelmingly sup- 
ports this view. That a forger should write such a 
book as this is simply incredible. 

Moreover, the unanimous testimony of the Chris- 
tian Church of the second century by its chief teachers 
strengthens this conclusion. But few witnesses need here 
be introduced. Justin Martyr (c. A. D, 150) expressly 
affirms that John, " one of the apostles of Christ/' was 
the writer of the Revelation. Justin was probably born 
within a few years of John's death, or even while John 
was living, and he bore this witness within fifty years 
of John's demise. It is not likely Justin could be mis- 



IO 



THE REVELATION. 



taken touching so vital a matter, nor that the source 
of his information was not thoroughly trustworthy. 
Irenaeus (c. 180) apparently never heard of any other 
than John the apostle as the writer. Irenaeus' testi- 
mony is of the utmost value, for he was " the grand- 
pupil of John," as Dr. Whedon describes him ; he was 
the disciple of Polycarp, and Polycarp was the disciple 
of John, so that between John and Irenaeus there 
stands but one, the sainted Polycarp, Bishop of 
Smyrna and martyr of Christ, and intimate companion 
of John himself. The Muratori Canon (c. A. D. 170), 
Melito of Sardis (c. A. D. 180), Tertullian the great 
Latin Father, and many others bear the like witness 
to the genuineness of the Apocalypse. If credence is 
to be put in the unanimous testimony of antiquity, if 
historical evidence is worth anything in deciding a 
historical date and the authorship of a book, it seems 
to be decided by unimpeachable witnesses that the 
apostle John was the writer of this book. 

But why does John suppress his name in the Gospel 
and in the epistles and record it here? Because the 
Revelation is pre-eminently prophecy, and every pro- 
phetic writing is authenticated by the name of the 
prophet. The prophets of the Old Testament in- 
variably attach their names to their books, because 
their names are a guarantee of their predictions. John 
opens the Apocalypse with the announcement of his 
own name, and of the source and aim of his pro- 
phecies, precisely as do the Old Testament prophets. 

II. The date of the book is a matter of almost bit- 
ter controversy. Two widely differing dates compete 



AUTHORSHIP AND DATE. 



IT 



for the mastery. Each characterizes a school of inter- 
preters, and each is advocated and defended with great 
zeal, and in some instances with violence. These dates 
are, respectively, A. D. 68, and A. D. 95-6. The first 
affirms that the book was written when Galba was 
Emperor of Rome, the other when Domitian was 
reigning. The adoption of either of these dates de- 
termines almost exclusively one's interpretation of the 
book. If the earlier is accepted as true, then one of 
necessity must accept what is commonly known as the 
preterist interpretation, namely, that the predictions 
contained herein had, and were expected to have 
their fulfilment in John's own time, that chaps i-xix, 
particularly, relate to the persecutions of Nero, the 
fall of Jerusalem, the dismemberment of the Jewish 
nation and the dispersion of Israel among the nations 
of the world. If the second date is assumed to be the 
correct one, then the Revelation has little or nothing 
to do with the events referred to, for it lies this side 
of them by a quarter of a century. 

A. D. 68 is advocated by many writers of great 
learning and keen, critical acumen. Historical evi- 
dence for it there is none till centuries after the book 
was written. The first writer to mention an early 
date is Epiphanius, about A. D. 365, but his statement 
is of no value, for he says that John wrote the Apo- 
calypse in the reign of the emperor Claudius, i. e., 
about A. D. 50-54, and he makes the incredible asser- 
tion that at the time John was ninety years old, 
whereas, in point of fact he could hardly have been 
above fifty. If Epiphanius had named Domitian as 



12 



THE REVELATION. 



the emperor, he would have been in exact accord with 
Irenaeus, who affirms that it was written near the close 
of Domitian's reign, i. e. y A. D. 90-96, at which time 
the apostle would be about ninety. Some even suppose 
that Domitian and not Claudius is meant, but the 
blunderer, as Epiphanius is known to be, twice wrote 
the wrong name. He is the only witness for an early 
date among the primitive writers, and his testimony is 
a huge mistake. 

A. D. 68 rests almost exclusively on internal evi- 
dence. Language and style are pressed into its sup- 
port. Dionysius of Alexandria (3d cent.), argued 
from these, that he who wrote the Fourth Gospel and 
I John did not write the Revelation, for the language 
and style employed in the latter forbid the belief that 
its author also wrote the other books ascribed to 
John. Dionysius has been followed by multitudes 
since, whose main argument is, John may have written 
Revelation, but if he did it was early in his life, when 
he did not know Greek as he came to know it when an 
older man ; and so he may have written this book at 68 
A. D., and the Gospel about A. D. 80-90. We may 
dismiss the point without further remark. 

Chap, xi: 1, 2, 8, seems to affirm that Jerusalem 
was standing and the Temple was still existing when 
the book was written. But it may as conclusively 
be affirmed that it is Jerusalem rebuilt and reinhabited 
by Hebrews, as that the Beast and the two witnesses 
of the same chapter have never yet appeared in his- 
tory. Whedon well says, " The use of Jerusalem and 
temple and tribes as apocalyptic symbols no more 



AUTHORSHIP AND DATE. 



13 



proves the literal existence of the city than the de- 
scription of Babylon proves that that great capital 
then existed in all its power and glory." The advocacy 
of this early date mainly arises out of the interpreta- 
tion of the book. All who hold it teach that these 
prophecies relate to events near John's own time, 
that they sprang from the conditions then existing, 
and are addressed to his contemporaries. Accord- 
ingly, the interpretation governs the date, and then 
the date is made to rule the interpretation, a vicious 
method which has no real worth. It is believed that 
Nero was " The Beast," that he did not die by his 
own hand, but that he was almost fatally wounded, but 
was hidden by friends, that he concealed himself in 
Parthia, his " deadly wound " being healed, and that 
in due time he would reappear at the head of a great 
army, destroy Rome, annihilate Christianity, deliver 
Israel from all foes, glorify Jerusalem, and become the 
Antichrist, the mock Messiah. Such was the vague 
rumor floating about over the empire about A. D. 
68, and John accepted it, and wrote the Apocalypse 
with this hypothesis dominating him. The seven 
heads on the Beast are explained to signify Roman 
Emperors, viz.: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, 
Claudius, Nero, the " five fallen" (xvii: 10); the 
sixth is Galba (" the one is "), and the seventh, Galba's 
successor, was to be Nero restored, the Man of Sin, 
the Antichrist. Such is the rationalistic view 7 of 
Revelation, and it is supported by its advocates by 
vast research and acute reasoning. 

Now, if the Apocalypse was actually based on the 



14 



THE REVELATION. 



foundation just described, then, in less than ten years 
historical events and facts proved the book to be totally 
mistaken, false, and untrustworthy. For Nero did 
not reappear, the seventh head of the Beast did not 
become Antichrist, Rome did not fall ; instead, Jeru- 
salem did, and Israel, instead of being delivered and 
exalted, went into an exile that still endures. Could 
any book, specially one claiming to be a revelation 
from God, survive such an overwhelming defeat — 
such utter bankruptcy of its essential contents? Yet 
the book lived, and has continued to live to this day. 
We may dismiss both the hypothesis and the date 
from further consideration. Unhesitatingly we ac- 
cept Irenaeus' date, viz. : near the close of Domitian's 
reign, A. D. 90-96. Many whose judgment on this 
point is of the highest worth accept, in part, or wholly, 
this date, e. g., Ramsay, Orr, Harnack, Swete. " Crit- 
ical opinion appears to be steadily returning to the 
traditional date," i. e., 90-96 (Purves). 



CHAPTER IL 



Symbolism. 

III. Symbolism. Every reader is impressed with 
the extraordinary imagery of the book. Other pro- 
phetic Scripture exhibits the same peculiarity, as 
Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, even the Penta- 
teuch has it in some degree. But this is a book of 
symbols; a series of gorgeous pictures which begin 
with the opening chapter and continue to the end. A 
marvellous profusion of this pictorial representation 
characterizes it. Some of the symbols are easily 
understood, for their meaning shines through the 
drapery that covers the great thought, but others are 
so complex, so unearthly, and portentous in their 
vastness and mysteriousness as to daze, overwhelm us. 
But let us be persuaded of this, that whether we can 
read the enigma, the deep idea hidden in the symbol or 
not, the idea is there all the same, and it is the supreme 
duty of the expositor to toil on at it till he uncover 
its meaning, at least partially. Let some features of 
the symbolism be noted : 

(a) The imagery is taken from the Old Testament. 
In chap, i, the dress and posture of the glorified Son 
of Man, the candlesticks amid which He walks, are 
from the Temple, from Israel's high priest, and from 
the candlestick of the sanctuary. The four living 
creatures of chap, iv are taken from the Pentateuch 

15 



i6 



THE REVELATION. 



and Ezekiel. The Beast of chap, xiii is already in 
Daniel vii. The harvest of xiv: 14-16, and the vintage 
of xiv: 17-20 are in Joel iii, and in Zech. xiv, while 
the last worldwide conflict, xix, is described in Dan. 
vii, xi, xii ; in Zeph., in Joel, Zech. and Matt. xxiv. We 
might go on to see that the Revelation, as a whole, 
is bound up with the earlier prophetic Scriptures by the 
closest and most intimate ties. Indeed, as one studies 
this relation of the two Testaments to each other in 
type, symbol, language, thoughts and expressions, 
he is profoundly struck with the unity of the Bible, 
and particularly with the oneness of the great pro- 
phetic themes of the holy word. 

John lays all Scripture under tribute, and draws 
from it much, if not all his material. Numbers fur- 
nished by another may serve to make this plain. 
Revelation consists of 404 verses, of which 265 verses 
contain O. T. language, while there are 550 refer- 
ences to it (Prof. Swete gives 278 verses). The 
Greek texts of Wescott and Hort, and of Nestle, ex- 
hibit its use of the O. T. by printing the borrowed 
words and phrases in a different type. On a single 
page of Nestle's small volume no less than twenty 
such words and phrases have been counted. The 
Revelation gathers into itself the imagery, language, 
and objects of the older prophecies, and to know the 
full mind of the Spirit the student must go back to the 
source for light and guidance. 

All this shows how intimately the prophetic parts 
of the Bible are united, and how one must take his 
principles of interpretation from the whole word of 



SYMBOLISM. 



God. To attempt to interpret the book by heathen 
customs and Gentile habits and history is fatal to the 
right understanding of it. It is strictly Biblical; it 
moves within the circle of the prophets of God; it is 
saturated with Hebrew modes of thought, and is 
filled and thrilled with Hebrew hopes and assurances. 
John thinks in Hebrew, writes in the style of a He- 
brew prophet, and speaks with the authority of a He- 
brew Seer. 

(b) Progress marks Biblical prophecy. Daniel's pre- 
dictions advance beyond those of Isaiah, of Joel, and 
even of Ezekiel. Zechariah adds features to the grow- 
ing picture of the End-time, and of the mighty strug- 
gle between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of 
Satan, which none of the prophets who preceded him 
have foretold. Jesus in the Olivet prophecy, Matt, xxiv, 
xxv, Luke xxi, fills into it details, and features, and 
lines, which make it far more specific, clear, intelligible, 
and graphic; while Paul, in 2 Thess., with a few 
strokes of the prophetic pencil, paints the Man of Sin 
so vividly and so frightfully, as that the monster 
when he comes will be recognized instantly by the 
people of God. But the Apocalypse crowns the whole 
prophetic word with its symbols and pictures, its ex- 
planations and its solemn testimonies, its four great 
series of sevens, all leading to the consummation, 
to the Advent and the Victory, so that the man of 
God is furnished an infallible guide for the perilous 
times that are fast approaching 

While the Apocalypse is the final and by far the 
fullest revelation of the " Things to come," it is not 



i8 



THE REVELATION. 



an independent prophecy, nor is it disconnected with 
the earlier disclosures of the future which God has 
been pleased to give us. On the contrary, the book 
gathers into itself all that precedes it in the same 
great field, but adds thereto, and unfolds, and reveals 
more and more, till the colossal portrait, in all its 
awful features, stands complete. 

With two great prophecies the Revelation is most 
closely and indissolubly bound up, namely, Daniel's 
and the Lord's Olivet Discourse. How intimately 
the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation are 
connected every careful reader of the Bible well 
knows. The supreme subjects, the times, the opposing 
forces, and the issue of the mighty conflict are in both 
identical. In both the same theme is prominent, viz. : 
the Kingdom of God in its deadly struggle with the 
hostile world-power and its victory over it. Daniel 
and John are companion books, at once complemental 
and supplemental of each other. The Lord's Olivet 
Discourse, as recorded in Matt, xxiv, and Luke xxi, 
furnishes a sort of frame for much of the Apocalypse. 
It is beyond dispute that Christ deals with two 
supreme events, viz.: the Fall of Jerusalem and His 
Second Advent. It is with the latter event He mainly 
is concerned. He speaks with much fulness on the 
closing scenes of the age, of the Tribulation, the 
signs that announce the nearness of the Advent, and 
of the Advent itself. It is with the same great crisis 
of the world that our book deals. In Daniel it is the 
Gentile World-power, become apostate and hostile to 
God and His cause and people, that is crushed by the 



SYMBOLISM. 



19 



overwhelming judgment of the Lord. The same 
monstrous Power, beastly and savage, reappears in 
the Revelation, and meets there the same tremendous 
doom. In the Olivet Prophecy of Christ the people 
of Israel hold a pre-eminent place ; and in the Revela- 
tion the same chosen people are alike conspicuous. 
It is not too much to say that the Apocalypse is the 
expansion, with marvellous additions, of the Olivet 
Prophecy and the book of Daniel. He who studies 
both these until he comes to understand them will find 
the study of our book greatly facilitated. 



CHAPTER III. 



Systems of Interpretation. 

IV. Systems of Interpretation. Four methods of 
interpreting the book are advocated, which we de- 
scribe as briefly as possible. 

The first is that commonly called Preterism, to 
which reference has already been made. Its funda- 
mental principle is this: the Revelation is a dramatic 
representation of conditions and events existent in 
John's own day, that its visions must be limited to his 
horizon, that it has to do with the Roman State, with 
Israel, Jerusalem, and the Christian Church of the 
first century, the apostolic age, and with the conflicts 
then raging. It holds that Nero was the Beast, that 
the letters of his name written in Hebrew (Nero 
Caesar) give the mystic number 666; that John adopted 
the absurd fiction, that Nero did not die by his own 
hand, that he was somewhere concealed till the hour 
should arrive for his reappearance, when most extra- 
ordinary things would take place. This, in short, is 
the rationalistic interpretation which obviously de- 
stroys the credibility of the book and reduces it to 
the level of the wildest fable. 

There are those, however, who are evangelical in 
their belief, who accept the book as an authoritative 
revelation, but who adopt the preterist explanation. 
Among these may be mentioned the most recent 

20 



SYSTEMS OF INTERPRETATION. 21 



writers; as, e. g., Prof. Ramsay (Letters to the Seven 
Churches, 1905), Dr. Swete (Apocalypse of St. John, 
1907, 2d ed.), and Simcox (Cambridge Series of 
Comm.). They hold that John did actually accept the 
fiction about Nero, and that he used it to make his 
teaching effective and illustrative. Both Ramsay and 
Swete date the book in the reign of Domitian, A. D. 
95-6, and they think that Nero's " deadly wound was 
healed" when the fierce persecutor of the Christians, 
Domitian, became Emperor. They hold that Domitian, 
A. D. 81-96, was the Beast of xiii, and Babylon 
the Harlot City of Rome, xvii. These writers have 
poured a flood of light on the times and the conditions 
of the apostolic age; in this respect, as in others also, 
their books are genuinely helpful. But we believe 
their exposition of the Revelation utterly breaks 
down when confronted with the facts in the case. 
John distinctly tells us that five of the heads of the 
Beast had fallen (of course when he wrote), that one, 
the sixth, was existing at the time, and that there was 
to come the seventh head of the monster, when the 
mighty events which he was foretelling would be 
accomplished (xvii: 10). But Domitian was not the 
seventh head of the Beast, nor the eighth, as this 
view necessitates he should be. No less than five 
Emperors ruled between Nero and Domitian, viz. : 
Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, and Titus. Even if 
the first three of these be thrown out because of their 
short reigns, still two others remain, one of whom was 
Emperor for ten years and the other for two. Be- 
sides, none of the stupendous events predicted in the 



22 



THE REVELATION. 



book, as occurring when the Beast is here, took place 
under any of these Emperors, nor have they to this day, 
in the judgment of many scholars. The defect of these 
preterist views is mainly this: a totally inadequate 
recognition of the inspiration of the book. One who 
really believes that Jesus Christ gave this revelation 
to John in Patmos, as John solemnly affirms He did 
(i: i-ii), cannot for a moment accept the notion that 
John adopted the fiction about Nero, or that he 
fancied the visions shown him were being fulfilled 
in the conditions which surrounded him. Christ's 
glorious Advent is the center and sum of this book, 
not John's own times, and not till He comes will its 
supreme predictions be realized. 

The second system of interpretation is the Spiritual. 
By this is meant that the book treats of the conflict 
between good and evil, between Christ and Satan, the 
conflict that began with man's sin and fall, that runs 
through all history, and that will end only with the 
end of time. The Revelation is a poetic and prophetic 
picture of the struggle between righteousness and 
sin, and that accordingly we are not to look for special 
fulfilments of its predictions; it deals with great prin- 
ciples, with their action, and with their defeats and 
victories. So the Seals are intended to show one 
phase of the conflict, the Trumpets another, and the 
Vials a third — all these are but vivid photographs of 
the war between good and evil, not specific 
transactions. 

The objections to this interpretation are conclusive, 
we think, (i.) There is its novelty, to begin with. 



SYSTEMS OF INTERPRETATION. 



The ancient Church did not so regard the book; nor 
did the Church of the Middle Ages; nor did that of 
the Reformation; nor has it in later times. Few, 
indeed, even in our own day accept it. It is advocated, 
however, by some very able and devout men, as Prof. 
Milligan, Archdeacon Lee, Prof. Randell, Prof. 
Purves, and many others. The great teachers of the 
church have believed that while the stupendous sym- 
bolism is to be constantly recognized, the symbols 
themselves describe real events and actors. With them 
the Dragon is Satan, the Beast is the hostile power of 
the state, the harlot the apostate ecclesiastical system, 
and the heavenly Conqueror is Christ. 

(2.) The book itself claims to be genuine prophecy. 
It fills, or seems to fill, the future with actual beings, 
some human, some extra-human, some Divine. But, 
if the spiritual explanation be true, then the book is 
an exaggeration and its pictures overdrawn and 
unnatural. 

(3.) This theory ignores the plain statements of 
Revelation. Very distinctly and definitely the inspired 
writer furnishes certain chronological data that fix 
periods and events of the future which mark historical 
sequence and exact time-limits. In chap, xx: 2-7, 
six times the period of one thousand years is men- 
tioned. It is the number from which we derive the 
idea of a Millennium. It is described as a period of 
blessedness, of Satan's imprisonment, of evil sup- 
pressed, of righteousness in the ascendency, of the 
universal sway of the heavenly Kingdom. That time 
is not put as ideal, as spiritual or figurative, but as 



24 



THE REVELATION. 



actual and real. Other numbers are given, as e. g., 
forty-two months, xi: 2; xiii : 5 ; twelve hundred and 
sixty days, xi : 3 ; xii : 6 ; time, times, and dividing of 
time, xii: 14 — all which betoken history, reality. 

(4.) Evil ever seeks to concentrate in a person or 
a system; so does good. Revelation shows us evil 
centralized in the Beast and in the False Prophet, and 
in their followers. Faithfulness and loyalty to God is 
also centralized in persons ; in the two Witnesses, xi : 
in the angels who fill so large a place in the action of 
the book ; in the Sun-clothed Woman and her Son ; in 
the Palm-bearers, vii; and the Conqueror and His 
armies, xix. We cannot accept this method of ex- 
plaining the book. For it empties it of much of its 
significance, and impeaches it as guilty of inflation 
and distortion. Whatever is true in it may be recog- 
nized, but as an interpretation it is wholly inadequate. 

The third is, the Historical Interpretation. Briefly, 
it means this: the book is a prophetic history of the 
church and the world from the time of John to the 
final consummation at Christ's Advent. The predic- 
tions deal only with the most prominent events of this 
vast period, and not with details. The majority of 
Protestant commentators adopt it. Its dominant idea 
is this: the Seals, Trumpets and Vials are symbols of 
successive stages in the world's history. Each set be- 
longs to a distinct class of events. So, likewise the 
explanatory visions, as chaps, x-xiv, mark epochs that 
follow each other in temporal sequence. Some of the 
ablest students of the book have sought to open these 
prophecies according to this principle, as Bengel, 



SYSTEMS OF INTERPRETATION. 



Mead, Newton, Elliott, Guinness, and the late A. J. 
Gordon. That there is truth in this method of inter- 
pretation cannot be doubted by those who have made 
ecclesiastical and profane history a real study. 
The correspondence between the prediction and its 
historical fulfilment is too obvious and striking to 
be accidental or fortuitous. The one matches the other 
so marvellously that God is recognized as the author 
of the prophecy. It may at once be admitted that the 
prophecy is so constructed as to touch the salient 
events of our dispensation. But as a system of inter- 
pretation it is incomplete. It leaves huge gaps in the 
history of the past 1,800 years. A period of 500 years, 
from A. D. 1000 to 1500 inclusive, it leaves almost un- 
touched. It rests chiefly on the year-day theory, i. e. y 
that a day in prophetic Scripture stands for a year. 
This is extremely doubtful. Indeed, it does not now 
commend itself to sober interpreters as once it did. In 
the judgment of not a few, Tregelles has demon- 
strated it to be fallacious and unbiblical. But even 
assuming there is ground for it in the prophetic word, 
the historical expounders of Revelation are wide apart 
in its application. For instance, there is a number that 
frequently occurs in the book, viz.: 1,260 days, 42 
months, three years and a half — the three denote the 
same period of time. A year for a day amounts to 
1,260 years. The end of the 1,260 is the consumma- 
tion of our age: it is the supreme crisis. But from 
what point is it to be dated? What is its terminus 
a quo? Here disagreement and divergence at once 
arise. Unanimity as to the starting-point of the 1,260 



26 



THE REVELATION. 



years there is none. Joachim (c. 1200) begins with 
A. D. 1 and ends with A. D. 1260; Melancthon, A. D. 
660-2000; Bengel, 576-1836; Mede, 455-1715; Flem- 
ing, 606-1848; Gill, 606-1866; Elliott, 608-1868; Cun- 
ningham, 533-1792; Fysh, 727-1987; Guinness, 672- 
1932. 

The fourth is the Futurist, which holds that the 
predictions, particularly from chap, iv to chap, xx: 
6, have their fulfilment in a brief space of time at the 
close of our dispensation — the whole being limited to 
some seven years, which end with the Lord's Advent. 
With much of this view the writer agrees, not with all 
of it. This will appear as we proceed with the ex- 
amination of the various parts of the book. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Plan and Structure. 

V. The Plan of the Revelation. Its structure is 
most artistic, unequalled in this respect, perhaps, by 
any other book of the Bible. To the superficial reader 
it presents a different appearance. To him it appears 
complex, confused, enigmatical, even unintelligible. It 
was on account of this popular notion of the book 
(in itself totally false) that Dr. South made his pro- 
fane remark that has done no small injury — " that 
mysterious, extraordinary . . . book called the Revela- 
tion . . . which the more it is studied the less it is under- 
stood, as generally finding a man cracked or making 
him so." To the devout and patient student, who 
seeks to know the Lord's mind in all His word, it has 
no such character as South ascribes to it. He may 
not be able to grasp its full meaning, he may have 
to leave great tracts in it wholly unexplored because 
he cannot penetrate them, but he finds exquisite beauty 
in its structure, divine wisdom and infinite skill in the 
correlation and the combination of its various scenes 
and visions. Throughout a mighty plan runs. Order 
rules. God's purposes are disclosed. The book is an 
Apocalypse, not an enigma nor a puzzle. 

First, note its use of numbers. This is remarkable 
both for frequency and peculiarity. We might truly 
say that Revelation has a numerical structure. Its 

27 



28 



THE REVELATION. 



form to some considerable extent is governed by 
numbers. 

(i.) Three. It is very prominent, nor is it confined 
to the idea of Trinity. It embraces more than in- 
dividual completeness; it moulds sentences and para- 
graphs; it describes unseen and eternal realities. In 
i : 4, 5, 6, are three sets of three : we have " him who 
is, and who was, and who is to come;" Jesus Christ, 
" the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, the 
ruler of the kings of the earth ;" believers are " loved, 
loosed from their sins, and made kings and priests 
unto God." John himself seems to assign a threefold 
division to this book, i : 19. " Write, therefore, the 
things which thou sawest, and the things which are, 
and the things which shall come to pass hereafter." 
The prominence given the number three in the fourth 
chapter is remarkable. In iv: 1 there is the door 
opened, the voice that summons John on high, and 
the promise. The nameless Occupant of the heavenly 
throne is like a jasper, and a sardius gem, and the 
emerald-like rainbow encircles the throne, iv: 2. 
Three things distinguish the twenty-four elders; they 
are enthroned, are arrayed in white raiment, and are 
gold-crowned, iv: 4. Out of the throne proceed 
lightnings, and voices, and thunder, iv: 5. Before 
the throne, and round about it, and within it are three 
objects, viz. : seven lamps, a glassy sea, and four living 
creatures, iv: 5, 6. The four living creatures chant 
the Trisagion, " Holy, Holy, Holy " — addressed to 
" the Almighty who was and who is, and who is to 
come ;" and they give Him " glory, and honor, and 



PLAN AND STRUCTURE. 



29 



thanks," iv: 8, 9. The gold-crowned Elders, like- 
wise, in their magnificent chant give Him " glory, and 
honor, and power," iv: 11. Moreover, there are three 
Woe Trumpets, viii: 13; three frog-like spirits issue 
from the mouth of the dragon, from the mouth of the 
beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet, xvi: 
13. In chap, xviii: 8, three plagues come upon 
Babylon — death, mourning and famine; and in the 
same chapter three classes of men wail over Babylon's 
Fall, Kings, ver. 9; merchants, ver. 11; seamen, ver. 
17. These are but specimens of the significant use of 
this number three. 

(2.) Four. By some this is supposed to be the 
number of creation. It certainly is found often in 
connection with earth and its forces. Chap, iv: 6-8 
describes the four Living Creatures, which have four 
faces, viz. : the ox, the lion, the eagle, and man. They 
are the four great heads of creation, and they are most 
intimately associated with the Throne, iv: 6 (cf. 
Ezek. i: 5-28; x). Mention is made of the four 
corners of the earth, of the four angels stationed 
thereat, holding the four winds in their grasp, vii : 1 ; 
four angels, likewise, are stationed at the river 
Euphrates, their watch and their action are for a four- 
fold division of time, an hour, and a day, and a month, 
and a year, ix: 14, 15. In the awful carnage of the 
trodden Winepress, the blood of the slain extends 
for 1,600 furlongs, i. e. y the square of four multiplied 
t)y 100. In the first four Seals, four horses go forth 
at the call of the four living creatures, vi : 1-7. More- 
over, four often enters into the structure of sentences; 



3° 



THE REVELATION. 



as, e. g., v: 9; viii: 5; x: 11; xvi: 18; xviii: 22, etc. 
In xxi : 8 there are eight descriptive epithets employed 
touching the wicked, two sets of four, or four sets of 
two. 

In the messages to the Seven Churches there is a 
division of them into two groups of three and four 
respectively. In the first three, viz. : Ephesus, Smyrna, 
and Pergamos, the exhortation to hear what the Spirit 
says precedes the promise to the over comer, ii: 7, 11, 
17. But in the four that follow, viz.: Thyatira, Sar- 
dis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, the exhortation to 
hear what the Spirit says comes after the promise to 
the overcomer, ii : 26-29 ; iii : 5, 6 ; iii : 12, 13 ; iii : 21, 22. 
This is a remarkable combination of the numbers three 
and four. Its significance is difficult to determine with 
any satisfaction. These also are but specimens of the 
use of four. 

(3.) Seven. This number is not only employed to de- 
note so many individual objects, but it enters very 
largely into the whole plan of the book. Seven is the 
number of completeness, of perfection, and of dispensa- 
tional fulness. All readers know that there are four sets 
of sevens that cover a very considerable section of the 
book. These are the seven messages to the seven 
churches, ii, iii. The vision of the seven seals, which 
embraces v-viii : 1 (with an episode between the sixth 
and the seventh of the series, viz. : vii). The vision 
of the seven trumpets, viii: 2-xi: 16 (with an episode 
between the sixth and the seventh, x-xi: 13). The 
vision of the seven vails, xv : 5-xvi. Thus nearly one- 
half of the book belongs to this fourfold series. 



PLAN AND STRUCTURE. 



31 



There are fourteen (a double seven) Songs or 
Choruses in the Revelation, which the American Re- 
vision rightly indicates by printing them on the page 
as if they were poetry or quotations; which in fact 
they are. These Songs are found through the book in 
the following chapters : iv : 8, 11 ; v : 9, 12, 13 ; vii : 10, 
12 ; xi : 15, 17, 18 ; xii : 10-12 ; xv : 3, 4 ; xix : 1, 2, 5, 6-8. 

These Songs or rhythmical utterances are all spoken 
by heavenly beings and in heaven, with one sole ex- 
ception, i. e., chap, v: 13, in which every created thing 
in heaven, on earth, and under the earth breaks out in 
tuneful ascription of praise and honor and blessing to 
the Lamb, because He is now at length about to 
redeem by power His vast inheritance, even as He has 
once for all redeemed it by blood. It is gloriously 
right and fitting that all creation should lift up its 
voice in a majestic anthem of praise, since its time of 
deliverance is finally come. 

This, notable as it is, does not exhaust the use of 
this number. It enters into passages where no direct 
mention of it is made. Thus, in v: 12, seven attributes 
of praise are ascribed to the Lamb that was slain ; the 
white-robed company in vii: 12 worship God with the 
like number of ascriptions. Chap, xiv: 1-20 consists of 
seven parts, viz. : the Lamb with His glorious com- 
pany on mount Zion : the everlasting gospel : Babylon's 
fall: the solemn threat against any fellowship with 
the Beast: happy lot of those who die in the Lord 
from henceforth: the harvest: the vintage. Besides, 
the chapter mentions six angels, and One like the 
Son of Man. The place of honor is given the Son of 



3 2 



THE REVELATION. 



man — three angels are on each side of Him, and He 
is in the midst, presiding over the vast movements. The 
climax of the series is in the number four, where He 
sits on the white Cloud. 

The "seven spirits before the throne " (i: 4) express 
the infinite perfection of the Holy Spirit. The " seven 
stars" in Christ's right hand (i: 16) denote the com- 
plete authority He has over the churches. The Lamb 
has "seven horns and seven eyes" (v: 6), which 
denote the almighty power, the supreme intelligence, 
and the perfect omniscience with which He is 
endowed. 

This may suffice to indicate how deeply the number 
seven is woven into the structure of Revelation, and 
how it dominates it. It would hardly be going too far 
to assert that the book is built on the principle of the 
septinary. 

(4.) Ten is the number of secular organization and 
of power. The Beast has ten horns, and on his horns, 
ten diadems (xiii: 1). These are symbols of power. 
Ten joined with seven signifies the perfection of 
satanic force and worldly dominion. The Beast with 
seven heads and ten horns is the embodiment of 
devilish energy, and of apostate, imperial supremacy. 

(5.) Twelve is the number of final and eternal per- 
fection and duration. The Celestial City, the New 
Jerusalem (xxi, xxii: 5), has twelve foundations, 
with twelve gates, with twelve angel sentinels and 
guardians; the City is a majestic cube, twelve thou- 
sand furlongs being the measure of its form. The tree 



PLAN AND STRUCTURE. 



33 



of life yields twelve manner of fruits, and yields them 
through twelve months of a cycle. 

Auberlin does not exaggerate this feature of the 
Apocalypse when he says, " The history of salvation 
is mysteriously governed by holy numbers. They are 
the scaffolding of the organic edifice. They are not 
merely outward indications of time, but indications 
of nature and essence. Scripture and antiquity put 
numbers as the fundamental forms of things where 
we put ideas." 

A second significant phase of the structure of Reve- 
lation deserves careful scrutiny. It may be called the 
plan of recapitulation, or better, perhaps, parallelism. 
What is meant is this : the chief series of visions, 
e. g., the Seals, Trumpets, and Vials, do not succeed 
each other in historical and chronological sequence, 
but move side by side. They do not all have the same 
starting-point, but they all arrive at the same goal ; 
namely, the final consummation. They all lead up to 
the transcendant event which is the central theme of 
the book, the personal Advent of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Victorinus, the earliest commentator on the 
Apocalypse, wrote : " The order of the things said is 
not to be regarded, since often the Holy Spirit when 
He has run to the end of the last time again returns 
to the same times and supplies what He has less fully 
expressed." His view is that of many modern 
expositors. 

The same peculiarity of structure appears in the 
book of Daniel. In chap, ii of that book we have 
the fmir hostile World Monarchies represented by a 



34 



THE REVELATION. 



huge metallic Image and its destruction by the Stone, 
In chap, vii, the same World-Power is symbolized by 
four predatory beasts. Chap, viii gives the prophetic 
history of two of these same Powers, and chaps, x, 
xi, xii, trace the action and the overthrow of the same 
great enemy. Like John, Daniel traces one line of 
prediction down to the consummation ; then he returns 
to follow a second, then a third, and finally a fourth — 
all terminating at the End-time. It is prophetic re- 
capitulation, apocalyptic parallelism. It is a style pecu- 
liar to these two books of the Bible. To ignore it, or 
to fail to recognize it as the fundamental phase of 
the book's structure, is to deprive the student of the 
true interpretation, and is sure to lead into all sorts 
of vagaries and speculations. 

Proof of such parallelism of the great Vision above 
referred to is now to be submitted. James Smith calls 
the process " folding back/' i. e., each vision as it is 
introduced and described folds back upon the vision 
which precedes it. In other words, the process is 
that of contemporaneousness, and not that of succes- 
sion at all, as so many interpreters of the book have 
thought. 

It is very noteworthy that the Seals, Trumpets, and 
Vials, all alike end in mysterious " voices," and in 
cosmical convulsions and revolutions. (The introduc- 
tion of the angel-trumpeters is before the effects of 
the opening of the seventh Seal are described, viii : 2 ; 
their beginning to sound is after the seventh Seal's 
effects are announced, viii: 3-5.) The opening of the 
seventh Seal is followed by " voices, and thunderings, 



PLAN AND STRUCTURE. 



35 



and lightnings, and an earthquake/' viii: 5. The 
seventh Trumpet is succeeded by " lightnings, and 
voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great 
hail," xi: 19. The pouring out of the seventh Vial 
is followed by " voices, and thunders, and lightnings ; 
and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since 
men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and 
so great," xvi: 18. It will be noted that these Voices 
and Cosmic Convulsions occur under the seventh of 
each group, and that they are identical in character, 
and almost entirely identical in language. Unmistak- 
ably they point to the same event, they describe the 
like tremendous phenomena, they belong to the same 
world-wide catastrophe; namely, the final consumma- 
tion, the End-time, when Jesus Christ shall again ap- 
pear in majesty and glory in this our earth, and for- 
ever terminate the deadly struggle between His rule 
and Satan's. It seems perfectly clear from the facts 
just stated that these Visions are contemporaneous, 
that they follow the same general course, that they 
pertain to the same period of time, and that, therefore, 
they are parallel with each other. They are synchron- 
ous; not successive, with long intervals between. 

Furthermore, the student of the Revelation cannot 
fail to note the striking similarity, the almost exact 
identity which subsists between the action of the 
Trumpets and of the Vials. They belong to the same 
sphere, they move in the same circle of events, and 
cover the like field. The subjoined table confirms the 
foregoing statement: 



36 



THE REVELATION. 



Trumpets. Vials. 
First. The earth, chap, viii: 7. The earth, chap, xvi: 2. 
Second. The sea, viii : 8. The sea, xvi : 3. 

Third. Rivers, fountains, viii : Rivers and fountains, xvi : 4. 

10. 4 
Fourth. Sun, moon, stars, viii: The sun, xvi: 8. 

12. 

Fifth. The abyss, king Abad- Throne of the Beast, xvi : 10. 
don, ix: 11. 

Sixth. River Euphrates, ix. River Euphrates, xvi : 12. 
Seventh. Voices, thunders, etc., Voices, thunders, etc., 17, 18. 
xi: 15, 19. 

A careful inspection of this table is enough to per- 
suade us that these two groups of visions move along 
the same lines, although each has peculiarities that per- 
tain to itself. They touch the same points, they begin, 
they progress, and they end precisely alike. The main 
difference between the two lies in the extent of their 
respective action; the Trumpets are restricted in their 
action; the Vials are universal. The Trumpets smite 
the third part of the earth, the third part of the sea, 
the third part of the rivers and fountains, and the 
third part of the sun. These four Trumpets are 
limited thus to a definite and partial area. The four 
Vials corresponding to these Trumpets are not so 
restricted, they blast the whole of that which they 
strike. In the first and second of the Woe Trumpets 
there is exemption for the grass and the trees, but un- 
utterable judgment for the men who had not the 
seal of God in their foreheads, unutterable torment, 
likewise, for the third part of men. The fifth and 
sixth Vials are not confined to a particular sphere as 



PLAN AND STRUCTURE. 



37 



are the Woe Trumpets; they desolate the Beast's 
throne, they strike his kingdom with judicial blindness, 
they marshal the whole apostate world for the final 
and overwhelming conflict, the battle of the great day 
of God the Almighty. The seventh Trumpet peals forth 
the glad news, "The Kingdom of the world is to become 
the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ: and he 
shall reign for ever and ever." The pouring out of 
the seventh Vial brings the " great voice out of the 
temple, from the throne, saying, It is done." Fairbairn 
is right when he says, " These two lines of symbolic 
representation . . . are alike in their commencement, 
their progress, and their termination. ,, The Trumpets 
start with a limited infliction of the wrath of God 
upon the guilty rebels of the last days, but they 
deepen in sevenfold energy as they move on to the 
end. In like manner the Vials intensify in severity, 
for they are the " seven last plagues/' and in them 
" the wrath of God is fulfilled." 

Moreover, certain " catchwords," as W ordsworth 
calls them, bind the visions together, thus demon- 
strating the identity of the objects in view. Thus, the 
fellow-servants and brethren of the martyrs who were 
to be slain (vi: 9-1 1) connect with the blessed dead 
who die in the Lord (xiv: 12, 13), and with those 
who share in the first resurrection (xx: 6). The 
earthquake under the sixth Seal connects with the 
earthquake of the sixth Trumpet (vi: 12; xi: 13). 
Under the fifth Trumpet the ungodly seek death, and 
death flies from them (ix: 6). Under the fifth Vial 
men gnaw their tongues for pain and blaspheme God 



38 



THE REVELATION. 



(xvi: 10, n). The Beast which first appears between 
the sixth and the seventh Trumpets (xi: 7) connects 
with the Beast of xiii and the Red Dragon of xii. The 
sealing of 144,000 (vii: 1-8) connects with the same 
number in chap, xiv: 1-5. The lamb-like Beast from 
the earth speaks as a Dragon (xiii: 11). The word 
Dragon occurs twelve times in the Revelation, and is 
always applied to Satan. This earth-Beast, therefore, 
that looks so lamb-like, is in reality satanic, for he is 
the servant and tool of the Dragon (xii: 9). He is 
the False Prophet. By such " catchwords " the vari- 
ous visions and parts of the book are knit together 
in closest unity. The same peculiarity of structure is 
seen in the various " episodes " and intercalary visions. 
Thus, the episode of the " Sealed and the Saved/' 
vii: 1-17, is placed between the sixth and the seventh 
Seals. The episode relating to the angel with the 
little book and the two witnesses is inserted between 
the sixth and seventh Trumpet, x, xi: 1-14. The 
episode of the gathering of the world's army for the 
final and decisive battle is placed between the sixth 
and seventh Vial, xvi: 13-16. All this, and much 
might be added to it, displays how the Seer has riveted 
together his matchless book into a perfect unity of 
parts and of contents. 

John even ties up his predictions with those of 
Daniel, as the four wild Beasts of Daniel (Dan. vii) 
appear also in the Apocalypse (xiii: 2). 

Once more: in addition to the episodes, there are 
intercalated visions in the progress of the Revelation, 
which are essential parts of its structure, and which ad- 



PLAN AND STRUCTURE. 



39 



vance its central idea, the coming of the Lord and the 
establishment of His Kingdom in victory over the whole 
earth. These are, the Sun-clothed Woman and the 
Dragon (xii) ; the Beast and the False Prophet (xiii) ; 
the mighty program of the End-time (xiv) ; Babylon, 
the Beast, and Babylon's Doom (xvii, xviii, xix: 10). 
It is to be noted that Chaps, xii-xiv are interposed 
between the Trumpet and the Vial Visions ; that chaps, 
xvii-xix: 10 are interposed between the Vial judg- 
ments and the actual, visible Advent, judgment, and 
first resurrection described in xix: n-xx: 6. A large 
part of the book is thus made up of the episodes and 
intercalated visions, and they are all explanatory and 
interpretative. Without them, how much more 
enigmatical and' difficult the book would be, and how 
immense the chasm would be in it if these were 
dropped out. 

The Revelation encloses visions within visions, and 
scenes within scenes. The query may arise, Can any 
explanation be made of this peculiar plan of the book 
— this involved and complex structure? None; save 
that it pleased the Lord so to construct it; and this 
should satisfy the believer. Two advantages to us, 
however, seem to be derived from this divine method 
of revelation. One is this : it serves to display in the 
most graphic manner the vastness of the field which 
the book covers. Beyond all doubt the Revealer deals 
with the world's crisis, with the consummation of all 
God's ways with the earth, with the time when the 
" mystery of God shall be finished " (x: 7). Heaven, 
earth, and hell will then engage in a struggle such as 



40 



THE REVELATION. 



our planet has never known before, and probably will 
never again know. The issue will be eternal victory. 
So far as we in our profound ignorance may per- 
ceive, the sublime symbolism of the book could alone 
set forth adequately the magnitude of the " battle of 
the great day of God, the Almighty." Another is: 
the plan affords the introduction of circumstantial 
details, and minute descriptions of the forces and 
influences that will come into collision at the time of 
the End. After the Seer has traced one line of predic- 
tion down to the crisis and climax, he returns and 
starts afresh with another, going over the same road, 
but presenting other phases and aspects of the same 
awful period. This he does again and again, for one 
set of symbols cannot tell all he has to communicate; 
he must add, expand, interject before he has done. 
Other features more dreadful than any yet sketched 
must be shown ; deeper and darker shades must be put 
in, more lurid and appalling colors must be laid on, 
before the stupendous picture is complete. Each 
vision in turn contributes an essential part to the 
whole, and the whole reveals the character and the 
scenes of the last days with a fulness and distinctness 
of outline and detail such as could not be presented by 
any other plan. 



CHAPTER V. 



Analysis — Three Forms. 

VI. Analysis. Three forms are submitted. The 
first is the partition of the contents under heads and 
particulars as these are marked in the book itself. 
It rests on the plan and structure of Part V. 

The second is a tabular exhibition of the contents, 
following, mainly, the outlines constructed by Prin- 
cipal Randell, and by the late Dr. Nathaniel West. 

The third furnishes still another partition of the 
contents, and this is copied from the very suggestive 
"Analysis of the Apocalypse," by Dr. W. J. Erdman. 

It is fondly hoped that the three will serve to open 
to the reader this profound and difficult book, as, per- 
haps, he may not have seen nor understood it hitherto. 
Certain it is, the three studied together, as well as 
separately, will tend to lead him into a larger knowl- 
edge of the book, and a more distinct and definite 
view of its contents, than perhaps he might not other- 
wise receive. 

First. 

A. Prologue, chap, i: 1-8 

B. Vision of the Glorified Son of Man, i: 9-20. 

C. Epistles to the Seven Churches, ii, iii. 

4i 



42 



THE REVELATION. 



D. Vision of Heaven, introductory, iv-v. 

The Throne, The Elders, Living Beings, Sealed 
Book and the Lamb. 

E. Opening of the Seven Seals, vi-viii: I. 

First Four Seals, vi: 1-8, Fifth, Martyrs, vi: 9-1 1. 
Sixth, supernatural signs, vi: 12-17; Seventh, 
viii: 1, 5. 

Episode: (a) Sealing 144,000 of Israel, vii: 1-8. 

(b) Innumerable company of Saved 
Gentiles, vii: 9-17. 

F. Sounding of Seven Trumpets, viii: 7-xi: 19. 
First Four Trumpets, viii: 7-12; Three Woe 

Trumpets, viii: 13-xi: 19. 
Episode: (a) Angel and Little Book, x. 

(b) Temple and Two Witnesses, xi: 
1-14 

G. Visions Interposed between Trumpets and Vials, 

chaps, xii-xiv. 
Sun-clothed Woman and Dragon, xii. 
Beast from the Sea, xiii: 1-10. 
Beast from the Earth, xiii: 11-18. 
Lamb and His Company on Mt. Zion, xiv: 1-5. 
Four Great Proclamations, xiv: 6-13. 
The Harvest, xiv: 14-16. 
The Vintage, xiv: 17-20. 

H. Vision of the Seven Vials, xv, xvi. 
Song of Victors at Glassy Sea, xv : 1-4. 
Prelude to Judgments, xv: 5-8. 



ANALYSIS— THREE FORMS. 43 

The Seven Judgments, xvi. 
Episode, xvi: 13-16, armies afield. 

I. Visions Interposed between Vials and Actual 
Advent, xvii-xix: 10. 
Harlot and Beast, xvii. 
Doom, xviii. 

Joyous Hallelujahs, xix: 1-10. 

J. Visible Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ, chaps, 
xix: 11-xx: 6. 
The Epiphany, xix: 11 -18. 

Doom of Beast and False Prophet, xix: 19-21, 
Satan's Imprisonment, xx: 1-3. 
Resurrection and Millennium, xx: 4-6. 

K. Final Revolt and Final Judgment, xx: 7-15. 

L. City of God, xxi-xxii: 5. 

M. Epilogue, xxii: 6-21. 



THE REVELATION. 



SECOND. 



The Chnstophany : Vision of the glorified Son of 
Man, chapter i: 1-20. 


\^ \J 1 1 u ui • 

mation:, 
Advent 
of Christ. 


The Seven Churches, chaps, ii, iii. 

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) 
Ephesus: Smyrna: Pergamos: Thyatira: Sardis: Philadelphia: Laodicea: 
Chap, ii: 1-7. ii:8-n. ii: 12-17. ii: 18-29. iii: 1-6. iii: 7-13. iii: 14-22. 


The End 
of the 
Age. 


The Vision of Heaven, chaps, iv, v. 

The Throne, Seven Lamps of Fire, 24 Elders, 4 Living Creatures, Angels, 
Book, Lamb. 




The Seven Seals, chaps, vi, vii, viii: 1-5. 

1 Seal. 2 Seal. 3 Seal. 4 Seal. 5 Seal. 6 Seal. 7 Seal. 

White Red Black Pale Mar- Signs 

Horse, Horse, Horse, Horse, tyrs, TEpisodG - ! 

vi:i,2. vi: 3, 4. vi:5,6. vi: 7, 8. vi.'9-ii. vi:i2-i7. |_ vii — J viii: 1-5. 


The End. 


The Seven Trumpets, chaps, viii : 6-xi. 

1st 2d 3d 4th 5th 6th ["Episode"] 7th 
viii: 7. viii: 8,9. viii: 10, 11. viii: 12,13. ix: 1-12. ix: 13-21. [_x,xi:i4j xi:i5-i9. 


The End. 


Interposed Visions, explanatory and interpretive, 
chaps, xii-xiv. 

Sign in Heaven, xii Beasts from Sea and Program of Events, xiv. 
Sun-clothed Woman and Earth, xiii. Harvest and Vintage. 
Great Red Dragon. 


The End. 


The Seven Vials, chaps, xv, xvi. 

Last Plagues. 

1st 2d 3d 4th 5th 6th r Episode "~| 7th 
xvi: 2. xvi:3. xvi:4-7. xvi:8,9. xvi:io,n. xvi:i2. |_xvi: 13-16. J xvi: 17-21. 


The End. 


Interposed Explanatory Visions, 
chaps, xvii-xix: I-IO. 

The Harlot Babylon and Beast, Doom, Marriage of Lamb, 
xvii. xviii, xix: 1-5. xix: 6-10. 


The End. 


Visions of Epiphany of Christ : Beasts and armies 
overwhelmed — Resurrection of Saints, 
chaps, xix : i i-xx : 6. 


The End. 
Millen- 
nium. 


Vision of the Last Revolt and the Last Judgment, 
chap, xx : 7-15. 


Absolute 
End. 


Vision of the City of God — Paradise Restored, 
chaps, xxi, xxii. 


Eternity. 



ANALYSIS— THREE FORMS. 



45 



THIRD. 

An Analysis of the Apocalypse. 

[W. J. ERDMAN, D.D.] 



1: 1-8 The Prologue 

1: 9-20 The Son of Man 

2: 1-3: 22 The Seven Churches 



I THE SEVEN CHURCHES 



4:1-5:14 
6:1-17 
7: 1-17 
8:1 



8:2-5 
8: 6-9: 21 
10: 1-11: 14 



Introduction 
Progression 
Episode 
Consummation 



Introduction 

Progression 

Episode 



11: 15-19 Consummation 



12: 1-13: la 
13: 1 b-18 
14: 1-13 
14: 14-20 



15: 1-8 
16:1-12 
16: 13-16 
16:17-21 



17:1-18 
18:1-24 
19: 1-10 



Introduction 
Progression 
Episode 
Consummation 



Introduction 
Progression 
Episode 
Consummation 



Introduction 
Progression 
Episode 



19: 11-20: 15 Consummation 



II THE SEVEN SEALS 

The Throne, the Lamb and the Book 

The Six Seals 

The Sealed and the Saved 

The Seventh Seal 

III THE SEVEN TRUMPETS 

The Angel and the Incense 

The Six Trumpets 

The Angel, the little Book, the 

Two Witnesses 
The Seventh Trumpet 

IV THE SEVEN PERSONAGES 

The Two Signs in Heaven 

The Great Tribulation 

The First Fruits and the Three Angels 

The Harvest and the Vintage 

V THE SEVEN VIALS 

The Overcomers and the Seven Angels 
The Six Vials 

The Gathering of the Kings 
The Seventh Vial 

VI THE SEVEN DOOMS 

The Babylon and the Beast 
The Doom of Babylon 
The Four Hallels 
The Six Final Dooms 



VII THE SEVEN NEW THINGS 

21: 1-8 Introduction New Heaven, Earth, Peoples 

21:9-22:5 The New Jerusalem City, Temple 

22: 6-21 The Epilogue Luminary, Paradise 



CHAPTER VI. 



The Epistles to the Seven Churches, chaps, ii, iii. 

They are inscribed thus : " John to the seven 
churches which are in Asia (i: 4). Asia, of course, 
does not mean the Continent, nor even Asia Minor, 
but the Province of Asia in Western Asia Minor. 
The Seven Churches were contiguous to each other, 
the greatest distance between any two of them being 
some fifty miles, while in the case of some, e. g., Thy- 
atira, Sardis and Philadelphia, hardly twenty miles lay 
between. Other groups of Christians besides those 
named were found in the same territory even in Paul's 
time (A. D. 62-3), as at Colossae and Hierapolis (Col. 
iv: 13). Ignatius (c. A. D. no, i. e., less than twenty 
years after John wrote the book) addressed letters 
to prosperous churches at Tralles and Magnesia in 
the same region, and it is presumable they existed 
when the Revelation was sent forth. Philip the Evan- 
gelist and his daughters, who entertained Paul in their 
home at Caesarea (Acts xxi: 8, 9), afterwards removed 
to Hierapolis, where Polycarp, disciple of John and 
pastor at Smyrna, saw the daughters, and no doubt 
talked with them of the great Apostle (Prof. Greg- 
ory). Near this same period (c. A. D. 120-30) 
Papias, who perhaps saw and heard John himself, 
became the chief pastor at Hierapolis. All these 

46 



EPISTLES TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 47 



various churches, Colossae, Hierapolis, Tralles, Mag- 
nesia, and others far more widely known and influ- 
ential flourished at the close of the first century. Now, 
how happens it that these assemblies, so prominent 
and important, are passed by in total silence in the 
book, while those of which we know little or nothing, 
except in the case of two, beyond what is told us in 
chaps, ii, iii, hold so conspicuous a place in the Lord's 
messages? Why are these seven singled out and ad- 
dressed, and all the rest of the whole world ignored? 
The only reasonable explanation is this: These seven 
here addressed contained in themselves the character- 
istic features of the entire church in John's day, while 
the others did not. Accordingly, far more than local 
and historical interest attaches to them. These Seven 
embraced in their conditions, in their circumstances 
and in their tendencies the prophetic history of the 
entire Christian Body from John down to the final 
consummation at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
That is, the seven churches and the messages ad- 
dressed to them represent the whole church of John's 
time, and they likewise sketch in broad outlines its 
history to the end. 

This conclusion is warranted by the following con- 
siderations: (1) The divine command to the Seer 
was to write out and send the w T hole Apocalypse to 
these churches : " What thou seest, write in a book, 
and send it to the seven churches," i: 11. Certainly 
the Revelation was not intended for these Christian 
assemblies alone, but for all the people of God 
throughout the earth. (2) The book is one of sym- 



4 8 



THE REVELATION. 



bols from the first chapter to the last, and if chaps, 
ii, iii, form an exception, they constitute an unac- 
countable anomaly. (3) The term " mystery " — "the 
mystery of the seven stars . . . and of the seven 
golden candlesticks" (i: 20) — points to the hidden 
meaning of the symbols, " the sacred secret signified 
by them" (Lyra). (4) The mystic use of the num- 
ber seven throughout the book that in every instance 
denotes completeness, perfection, clearly indicates the 
symbolic character of these chapters. (5) The con- 
tents of the messages contemplate the whole church 
and its entire history, as the repeated announcement 
of Christ's coming proves, ii: 16, 25; iii: 3, 11. (6) 
The appeal to " hear what the Spirit saith to the 
churches " attests the same truth, the language in- 
cludes the whole body (cf. i: 19, 20; iv: 1; xxii: 6, 
16). Not a single church is exhorted, but all "the 
churches." 

Each of the seven had marked peculiarities and 
characteristic features that cannot be restricted to 
one local assembly, for they foreshadow the like 
state in the church universal to the close of the dis- 
pensation. A study of their moral condition, how- 
ever brief and cursory, will serve to show that their 
excellencies and their defects so faithfully and un- 
sparingly pointed out by the glorified Lord cannot 
be applied exclusively to the close of the apostolic 
age. They have reproduced themselves in the pro- 
fessing body in all the subsequent centuries down to 
the present day. 

The " angel " of Ephesus (i. e., Christ's messenger 



EPISTLES TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 49 



and representative, certainly not a heavenly being nor 
a Diocesan Bishop who had no existence in the first 
century, but the responsible pastor), is both praised 
and censured. The praise is cordial, and the censure 
tender but unsparing. Ephesus was the mother of 
the Asian churches, and the titles our Lord here takes 
describe His supreme authority and His abiding pres- 
ence. This assembly was zealous in every good work, 
steadfast in its testimony, patient under trial, intol- 
erant of false teachers ; but she had declined from her 
first love, she had " fallen." Will any deny that the 
like condition is exhibited in evangelical bodies of the 
present time? Zeal, activity in service and works of 
all sorts predominate ; but is love for Christ, the long- 
ing to see Him, to be with Him, to be filled with His 
loving presence what it once was or should be ? 

Smyrna (ii: 8-1 1) is the martyr church, and rep- 
resents suffering. " Tribulation for ten days " may 
foreshadow the persecutions under the Roman Em- 
pire, but must not be confined to that period. Smyrna 
prefigures the suffering the people of God endure 
through their entire history. The Lord's titles here, 
as in every message, are exactly adapted to the state 
of the church. He is the first and the last, who was 
dead and is alive again; and His servants who suffer 
and die for His name shall also live again. 

A serious condition is found at Pergamum, ii: 12- 
17. She dwells where " Satan's throne is." At 
Pergamum Satan was enthroned and held his court. 
The reference is, probably, to the new Caesar-worship 
which was fast spreading over the Roman world. It 
4 



5o 



THE REVELATION. 



was pre-eminent at Pergamum (Profs. Ramsay, 
Swete). The fanatical and jealous Domitian ex- 
erted his vast power to advance the absurd cult, and 
he sought by wily schemes to have himself wor- 
shipped as a god ! The insidious plea was : " What 
evil is there in saying, ' Lord Caesar/ or burning a few 
grains of incense before his statue? " But this would 
be idolatrous, would be to " commit fornication/' and 
to deny Christ! There were those there who taught 
this vile doctrine — " the teaching of Balaam/' who 
taught Balak to allure Israel to their ruin when he could 
not obtain the Lord's permission to curse them. Alli- 
ance with the world is chiefly meant. The roaring lion 
is exchanged for the serpent, the adversary for the 
deceiver. Persecution, painful as it is, is not so per- 
ilous as worldly alliance. When Constantine recog- 
nized Christianity, when he sat in the Council of 
Nicea as an adviser, the fatal way to union of church 
and state began to be prepared. Pergamum thus 
becomes a prophetic symbol of the Christian Body 
in its lamentable connection with the godless World- 
power. 

A more subtle danger appears in Thyatira, ii: 18- 
29. The virus in this church is the crafty teaching 
of the Woman Jezebel. She calls herself a proph- 
etess, she seduces and corrupts the new people of God 
as Ahab's heathen wife did both her husband and Is- 
rael. It is not necessary we should understand that 
a veritable woman lived and wrought her evil in Thy- 
atira, although the reading, "thy wife Jezebel," is 
well supported, and is very suggestive. The language 



EPISTLES TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 51 

is symbolical; the meaning of the symbol is unmis- 
takable; it points to a wicked influence, seductive, 
secret, powerful, that, if unchecked, would subvert 
the whole testimony of the church and lead these con- 
verted heathen straight back into idolatry with all its 
impure practices. Thyatira typically with this proph- 
etess teaching and debasing and corrupting is the 
Lord's adumbration of the rise and reign of Popery, 
a system idolatrous and persecuting, Jezebel-like, prac- 
ticing its wickedness under a religious disguise. 

A faithful remnant in Thyatira is recognized and 
separated from the mass of the professing body — 
" But to you I say, to the rest," ver. 24. They are 
the historical types of those Christians who through 
the centuries stood aloof from unfaithful Christendom 
and who worshipped God in spirit and truth. 

All this evinces the predictive character of the 
Seven Messages and Churches. 

But may not these Seven Churches mark off proph- 
etically seven periods or stages in the church's history 
from the Apostles to the end of the dispensation? 
So many think, from Joseph Mede and Sir Isaac 
Newton to the present time. There is harmony 
among these writers as to the fact of such periods, 
there is not as to the exact periods covered by them. 
Perhaps the nearest to uniformity is found in the fol- 
lowing temporal partition: Ephesus prefigures the 
apostolic age closing with the first century: Smyrna, 
the age of the persecutions, the martyr time from A. D. 
100 to A. D. 325 : Pergamos, church and state united, 
to the middle of the eighth century : Thyatira, the Mid- 



5^ 



THE REVELATION. 



die Ages : Sardis, the times succeeding the Reformation, 
from the close of the sixteenth century to the latter half 
of the eighteenth : Philadelphia, to about our own time : 
Laodicea, the last period when rejection and judgment 
take place and the End arrives. The Laodicean stage 
is still future, though there are unmistakable symp- 
toms and premonitions that it has almost arrived. 

The above distribution is not altogether satisfac- 
tory, for it is not historically accurate. For example, 
Smyrna undoubtedly marks the period of martyrdom, 
but two of the most virulent and frightful persecu- 
tions which the Church has ever suffered occurred in 
the first century, under Nero and Domitian. And 
long after Constantine and the so-called conversion 
of the Roman Empire to Christianity, uncounted mul- 
titudes of the purest and the best of God's servants on 
earth went to the stake or were slain by the sword 
during the Middle Ages and every century since. 
Smyrna cannot rightly be confined to the time be- 
tween A. D. 100-325. 

No more can Sardis (iii: 1-6) be restricted to 
post-Reformation times, as some would fain have us 
believe. For while a dead formalism pervaded 
Christendom in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was 
by no means universal, as the Pietists of Germany, 
the Huguenots of France, and the Puritans of Britain 
attest. " Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art 
dead " describes far more closely the dark period 
lying between the Pontifical savages and pagans, 
Popes Innocent III and Leo X — a period of some 
three centuries. In the hundred years preceding the 



EPISTLES TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 53 



Reformation (A. D. 1410-1510) the Roman See sank 
down to the lowest point in infamy that it has ever 
reached. Four Popes, " each worse than the others " 
(as Italians say), by their loathsome characters and 
their foul deeds, stamped that century with eternal 
disgrace. They were known as John XXIII, Sixtus 
IV, Innocent VIII, and Alexander VI. It was the 
deplorable state into which the church had fallen that 
made the Reformation a necessity if Christianity were 
to survive. No interpretation of the Seven Churches 
which contradicts church history can be right. The 
Sardis condition belongs to pre-Re formation times 
rather than to any stage in the history of Protestant- 
ism. The Seven Churches do mark stages of his- 
tory, but often they overlap, two or more of them 
covering the same period. Indeed, they are mirrors 
in which the condition of the universal church may see 
itself reflected at any stage of its existence. 

The characteristics of the church of Philadelphia 
distinguish our day — so some rashly assert. It is a 
joy to know that there are multitudes of Christians 
whose fidelity, devotion and hope for the Lord's 
speedy coming entitle them to rank as saints of the 
Philadelphian type. But side by side with these are 
other multitudes, called Christians, who exhibit the 
worst features found in Pergamum, in Thyatira, in 
Sardis, and in Laodicea. Let us not be blinded either 
by a false optimism or a stupid pessimism. We believe 
that all the phases of these seven assemblies of Asia 
co-exist in our day. The last two of the Seven, viz. : 
Philadelphia and Laodicea, demand a more extended 



54 



THE REVELATION. 



study than can here be given them. Some remarks, 
however, touching them are submitted, for it is be- 
lieved that misapprehension of the Lord's messages 
to them largely prevails. 

Philadelphia. Christ promises to keep those who 
keep the word of His patience (iii: 10). The prom- 
ise is to keep them from the " hour (season) of temp- 
tation (trial), that hour which is to come upon the 
whole world, to try (tempt) them that dwell upon 
the earth/' iii : 10. Noteworthy is the term " trial," 
or " temptation." It is not named the tribulation so 
often mentioned in prophetic Scripture (vii: 14; Matt, 
xxiv: 21; Mark xiii: 19, etc.), but trial. No doubt 
it is closely associated with the Great Tribulation, but 
the word here used seems deliberately chosen, and 
points to the frightful dangers and temptations to 
which God's people will be exposed at the time of the 
End. We know from Rev. xiii: 13-15, 2 Thess. ii: 
9-12, that portentous " signs " and lying " wonders " 
and the " deceit of unrighteousness," wrought by the 
Beast and the False Prophet, will daze and fascinate 
vast throngs of men, nay, we are told the world itself 
will " wonder after the beast," and " worship " him. 
There will be believers who must face that tremendous 
peril. This will be their trial — deny God, or die. It is 
the troublous time which immediately precedes the 
Advent. Hence Christ adds, " I come quickly." It is 
the End-time, the close of the Church period and of 
the dispensation. 

But how will he keep these saints from the hour of 
itrial ? Many excellent students of the Revelation 



EPISTLES TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 55 



answer, By taking them away from earth into heaven. 
Accordingly, they find here in this promise the " rap- 
ture " of 1 Thess. iv: 16, 17. In such case these saints 
do not go into the trial at all, the rapture antedates 
the trial by some short space of time, some say seven 
years, others make it longer. It would be a blessed 
thing if this view could be substantiated, but it can- 
not. The language of the promise itself is fatal to 
it : "I will keep thee from the hour of temptation 
which cometh," etc. The natural and obvious mean- 
ing is, the safekeeping of them in the midst of world- 
wide trial, not exemption from it by being caught up 
to heaven. The preposition "out of" (ek) signifies 
exactly this, and not rapture before the trial begins. 
In all John's writings there is but one parallel passage 
with this: Jno. xvii: 15, "I pray not that thou 
shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou 
shouldest keep them from the evil." " Keep them 
from the evil " is identical in structure with " keep 
them from the hour of trial." None can possibly 
mistake what the Lord meant in His prayer: His dis- 
ciples were to remain in the worlds but He asks that 
they be kept from its evil, or from the evil one who 
is its god. So precisely in Rev. iii: 10, Philadel- 
phian saints are to be in the trial, but safeguarded 
therein. This explanation is confirmed by the words 
that follow : " Behold I come quickly : hold fast that 
which thou hast, that no one take thy crown." Christ 
lays upon them the responsibility of vigilance, of con- 
tinual effort. Each church, Philadelphia no less than 
the others, is called to guard its own inheritance, lest 



56 



THE REVELATION. 



through unfaithfulness or apathy it lose its crown. 
The solemn exhortation involves the fact of trial and 
of danger. Philadelphia is to be in the trial, but kept 
safely in it, not raptured away before the trial begins. 

Laodicea. This is the last stage and the worst of 
all, the most hopeless. Christ stands here without, 
as if shut out of His own house, a stranger who 
knocks at His own door for admittance. He inti- 
mates that the condition now reached has become in- 
tolerable, nauseating; rejection and judgment are held 
back only so long as He waits and knocks. Obvi- 
ously when this deplorable state is reached the " fall- 
ing away " (apostasy) of 2 Thess. ii : 3 is at the flood; 
the world is ripe for the parousia of the Man of Sin 
and the day of Christ. 

There is some resemblance between this Laodicea 
condition and " Babylon," the great Harlot of chaps, 
xvii, xviii. Laodicea boasts of her wealth and her 
self-sufficiency, totally oblivious of her true state as 
wretched, poor, blind and naked (iii: 17). The Har- 
lot's proud boast is, " I sit a queen, and am no widow, 
and shall see no sorrow." She is decked with gold, 
precious stones, with purple and scarlet (xviii: 7, 16), 
rich and contented as Laodicea. The Lord's call, 
" Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers 
of her sins., and that ye receive not of her plagues " 
(xviii: 4), is much like that to Laodicea, "Behold, 
I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my 
voice and open the door, I will come into him, and sup 
with him, and he with me" (iii: 20). There are 
saints in Babylon, and in Laodicea likewise. The 



EPISTLES TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 57 



whole attitude of the Saviour before this Seventh 
Church indicates that He has people in it, that these 
His people must be separated from the corrupt and 
apostate company before His judgment falls. And 
the same thing happens precisely with those associ- 
ated with Babylon. These, too, are called out before 
the wrath falls on the guilty apostates. Further on 
in this study we shall see that there are martyrs in the 
Great Tribulation, and there are those who are kept 
safely in it, as e. g., 144,000 sealed ones (Rev. vii: 
1-8), and the believers of Philadelphia (iii: 7-12). 
They are in the trial, but are safely guarded in it. 

The conclusion is: The Seven Churches and the 
Messages addressed to them cover the whole church 
period, from the writing of the Apocalypse down to 
the final consummation, the Coming of the Lord. 
The three great septinary visions of the Seals, Trum- 
pets and Vials also terminate in the final consumma- 
tion. Each of them ends with the signal event of the 
book, the Coming of the Lord. But the difference 
between these four sets of sevens is very marked, and 
briefly is this: the Seven Churches embrace in their 
typical characteristics the entire dispensation lying 
between the apostolic age and the Second Advent. 
The visions of the Seals, Trumpets and Vials relate, 
in their full accomplishment, to the events which shall 
signalize the closing scenes of the age. These latter 
gather into a comparatively brief period of time just 
before Christ comes. 



CHAPTER VII. 



The Vision of Heaven Opened, chaps, iv, v. 

"After these things I saw, and behold a door opened 
in heaven/' iv: I, R. V. The phrase, "after these 
things," denotes apparently the transition from one 
vision to another (vii: I, 9; xv: 5; xviii: 1; xix: 1). 
Even i : 19, held by many to be the division of the book, 
probably means the past, present and future as to 
visions, not the past, present and future of history, 
for much of chaps ii, iii relates to the future of the 
churches, not to the present alone. The phrase marks 
the succession of the visions and not of time. The last 
clause of iv: 1, "things which must be hereafter," is 
explained by Dan. ii: 28, 45. The visions of chaps, 
iv-vii: 1 appear to be denoted by it. (The Greek 
text of W. & H. and the margins of Eng. and Amer. 
revisions punctuate thus : " come to pass. After these 
things straightway," etc., which yields excellent sense.) 

Grouped round about the resplendent central 
Throne, the Seer beheld four and twenty other thrones, 
lower, no doubt, upon which were seated four and 
twenty Elders clothed in white raiment, and on their 
heads crowns of gold. It is by no means easy to de- 
termine who, or what these Elders are. The majority 
of writers think they represent the redeemed of the 
Old and the New Testament epochs, twelve symboliz- 
ing one section, twelve the other of our race. There 

58 



VISrON OF HEAVEN OPENED. 



59 



are some who believe they may be princely leaders of 
the heavenly hosts of unfallen spirits in heavenly wor- 
ship (Craven in Lange). The language employed 
respecting them, the language they themselves em- 
ploy is quite remarkable. The text of Revelation 
agreed upon by the English and American Revisers, 
and the latest critical Greek text of Westcott and 
Hort, of Weymouth and Nestle (not to mention 
others), presents a significant divergence from that of 
King James. In the revised version of v: 9, we are 
bidden read thus : " Worthy art thou to take the book, 
and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and 
didst purchase unto God with thy blood men of every 
tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and madest 
them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests; and 
they reign upon the earth." This was the " new song " 
sung by the Elders and the four living beings to the 
Lamb. They do not associate themselves with saved 
men in this hymn of praise; they actually appear to 
place themselves apart from the redeemed. In chap, 
vii: 9, 10, the unnumbered throng of the redeemed 
from among men sing their glad hossanah, " Salva- 
tion unto our God which sitteth on the throne, and 
unto the Lamb/' But the Elders, and angels, and liv- 
ing beings do not join in it, they sing a different song 
from this of the saved. Moreover, one of the Elders 
said to John, " These which are arrayed in the white 
robes, who are they, and whence came they?" He 
himself explains, vii: 13-15; but this explanation seems 
to set a wide distinction between himself and the white- 
robed company. Indeed, in every passage where the 



6o 



THE REVELATION. 



voice of the Elders and of the four living beings is 
heard, they are not united with the redeemed (iv: n ; 
v: 12, xi: 17; xix: 4). The Elders are enthroned and 
crowned, but the souls of the martyrs — certainly the 
noblest portion of the redeemed — are seen beneath the 
altar, vi: 9-1 1, as if they were still in the state of 
martyrdom, their blood being at the altar's bottom like 
that of sacrificial victims. They are disembodied 
spirits, they have had as yet no resurrection nor 
reward. Accordingly, the Elders cannot be the totality 
of the redeemed already raised up and glorified, for 
here are saints still in the disembodied state, who 
are distinct from the Elders, and who are unglorified. 
And other martyrs are to follow these, vi: 11. 

The best explanation of the vision of the Elders 
we have seen is by Dr. Swete, in his very recent com- 
mentary on the Apocalypse (1906-7), and it is em- 
bodied in this sentence : " The twenty-four Elders 
are the Church in its totality, but the Church idealized 
and, therefore, seen as already clad in white, crowned, 
and enthroned in the Divine Presence — a state yet 
future (must be hereafter), but already potentially 
realized in the resurrection and ascension of the Head, 
cf. Eph. ii: 6." 

The four living creatures, iv : 6-8. " Beasts " of 
A. V. is most unfortunate as a translation, for these 
beings are neither brutes nor wild beasts like the two 
described in chap. xiii. These are distinguished for 
their vitality, their intense livingness, as their name 
(zoa) indicates, for their activity in the worship and 
service of God, and for their composite appearance. 



VISION OF HEAVEN OPENED. 



6l 



They have the faces and forms of the lion, the calf, 
man, and the eagle — the recognized heads of the 
animal creation, " The four forms suggest what is 
noblest, strongest, wisest and swiftest in animate 
nature." Their appearance seems to denote that 
they are the symbols, in some mysterious and pro- 
found way, of creation in its manifoldness and 
greatness. They closely resemble the Cherubim of 
Ezek. i; but there are marked differences. Those of 
Ezekiel are seen in the midst of an " infolding fire," 
which has no parallel in Rev. iv. Ezekiel's has each 
four wings; these of Rev. have six each. In this 
they approach the Seraphim of Isa. vi : 2. Both here 
and in Ezekiel they are associated with the throne 
of God. In chap, vi: 1-8, they are represented as in 
some sense the executors of the Divine Will; they 
summon the four riders with their authoritative Come. 
They appear to be connected with the providential 
judgments of God, are seen doing the behests of Him 
who is enthroned, about whom they stand as guards, 
or like a military staff. They are full of eyes, symbol 
of wondrous intelligence and sleepless vigilance. 

What do they symbolize? Certainly not the Four 
Gosples, as some suppose; nor four great Apostles; 
as Peter, James, John, Paul; nor redeemed humanity. 
They may be symbols either of the Forces of Nature 
through which God's will is accomplished, or hiero- 
glyphs of certain chief attributes; as, righteousness, 
truth, power and mercy. 

The Sealed Book and the Lamb, v: 1-14. The book 
which John saw was no ordinary roll. It rested on 



62 



THE REVELATION. 



the right hand of Him who sat on the Throne, as if 
held forth to be taken and opened. It was written both 
within and on the back; it was close sealed with seven 
seals. The solemn challenge by a strong angel rang 
out in heaven., " Who is worthy to open the book, and 
to loose the seals thereof?" No created being in the 
whole universe was able to look upon it, much less to 
open it. One alone was — One with the significant 
titles, "Lion of the tribe of Judah," "the Root of 
David," " the Lamb that was slain." It is the Lord 
Jesus Christ. He is able to take the book, and to loose 
its seals. For His is the perfection of power ; His seven 
horns denote it; His is the perfection of intelligence; 
His seven eyes are the proof; His perfect right to 
sovereignty and supremacy rests in this- — He died and 
rose again ; He is the Lamb that was slain. He " hath 
overcome (Gk. achieved the victory) to open the book 
and the seven seals thereof." 

The meaning of this sublime vision is not far to 
seek. This chapter, as also the succeeding visions, in- 
dicates with unmistakable clearness the significance of 
the heavenly transaction. There is no hint that the 
book was read, that its contents were disclosed. We 
are told of the events which succeed the opening of 
the seals, but of the contents written within it nothing 
is said. Did the book contain the events? Doubtful. 
It would be unwarranted to affirm so much. The 
august transaction should be studied as a whole, not 
any particular feature of it. 

Beyond all doubt the vision is of transcendent im- 
port. Men differ as to what it means and all it means. 



VISION OF HEAVEN OPENED. 63 



The view that commends itself to the writer as being 
the most satisfactory is this: The Heavenly scene 
here described represents Christ's investiture of sov- 
ereign authority and rule as the rightful Governor of 
the world, the King and Lord of every realm and of 
every region. Supreme authority was conferred on 
Him at His exaltation (Matt, xxviii: 18; Eph. i: 
20-23 ; Phil, ii: 9-11), but He did not at that time take 
full possession of all His rights and prerogatives ; some 
He held in abeyance. He is now seated at the right 
hand of the throne of God (Heb. i: 3; xii: 2; Rev. 
iii. 21 etc.). He is there as Mediator, conducting the 
vast and manifold interests of His redemptive work. 
But He is there also " expecting till his enemies be 
made the footstool of his feet," Heb. x: 12, 13. The 
2d and the 110th Psalms expressly teach that a day 
shall come when God will give to His Son the heathen 
for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the 
earth for His possession; when He will subdue them 
all under His feet ; when He shall rule in the midst of 
His enemies, and judge among the nations. Peter 
affirms that the heavens must receive Christ until the 
times of restoration of all things (Acts iii: 20, 21). 
Scripture teaches that there comes a time in the prose- 
cution of His work when Christ will take unto Him- 
self His great power and will reign; when He will 
put down all authority and rule; when He will 
establish His glorious Kingdom in victorious power 
over the entire planet, and He alone will be the King 
of kings, and the Lord of lords. In this august 
scene that time has arrived. Christ takes the sealed 



64 



THE REVELATION. 



book out of the right hand of the Father. It is the 
" title-deed 99 to the inheritance which He has pur- 
chased by His obedience unto death, as the Elders and 
the Living Beings sing, v : 9 : " Worthy art thou to 
take the book and to open the seals thereof: for thou 
wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with thy 
blood," etc. The angelic hosts chant the like song: 
" Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive 
the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and 
honor, and glory, and blessing " (v: 12). Groaning 
creation now at length feels the first thrill of the prom- 
ised deliverance, and sings its glad song of hope and 
expectation : " Unto Him that sitteth on the throne, 
and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honor, and 
the glory, and the dominion, for ever and ever" (v: 
13, 14). All created beings join in this glad song, 
for the redemption of the purchased possession has 
now at length come. 

All these tuneful ascriptions of praise to the Lamb 
of God attest the profound significance of the heavenly 
transaction. A mighty change is here indicated in the 
mediatorial work of our Lord. Christ now at length 
in infinite majesty and power begins to recover the 
alienated inheritance, to clear it of every incumbrance, 
to put down every foe, to destroy all hostile forces, and 
to rule unchallenged over all. Hitherto He hath been 
seated at God's right hand, "expecting," Heb. x: 12. 
But in this vision He is seen standing before the 
Throne as if the appointed time has come, and the 
glorious Kingdom is now to be established, and the 
millennium be brought in. Accordingly, it is from 



VISION OF HEAVEN OPENED. 



65 



this point that the supreme prophetic action of the 
book begins its course, and it runs on to the final con- 
summation. Chaps, iv, v, are thus introductory to 
and explanatory of all that follows, they are essential 
to any adequate understanding of the book. 

Dan. vii: 9-14 points to the same great transaction 
recorded in Rev. v. One who is named "Ancient of 
Days " (God the Father) sits upon a Throne from 
which stream fiery flames, and about which stand 
thousands upon thousands of angelic hosts ministering 
unto Him. A secret judgment is pronounced on the 
Little Horn and the Beast, and the doom of both is 
irrevocably pronounced, vii: 9-12. Verses 13, 14, 
introduce a scene marvellously akin to that described 
in Rev. v : " I saw in the night visions, and, behold, 
there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a 
son of man, and he came even to the ancient of Days, 
and they brought him near before him. And there 
was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, 
that all peoples, nations and languages should serve 
him/' cf. vers. 26, 27. The Son of Man, Jesus 
Christ, is here represented as coming into the place of 
judicature, and there receiving investiture of the ever- 
lasting Kingdom. His investiture immediately pre- 
cedes His coming forth to crush the Beast, to annihi- 
late the Antichrist (the Little Horn), and His taking 
the Kingdom for the saints of the Most High. This 
vision in Daniel appears to be exactly parallel with that 
of John. 

The parable of the Nobleman (Luke xix: 11-27) 
points to the same supreme event as the vision of Dan- 



66 



THE REVELATION. 



iel. "A certain nobleman went into a far country 
to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return . . . 
And it came to pass, when he was come back again, 
having received the kingdom," etc. No one can 
question that the Nobleman represents Christ Him- 
self. The far country to which He went is heaven. 
The kingdom He went to receive is the same glorious 
kingdom predicted in Dan. vii, " a kingdom that all 
people, nations, and languages should serve him." 
The parable teaches that this kingdom shall come to 
victorious power over all the earth, when the King 
Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, shall " return." The 
words, " having received the kingdom," seem to de- 
note His investiture of the kingdom, His right and 
title to take it, and to establish His sovereign rule over 
the world. 

We conclude, therefore, that this majestic scene 
so graphically portrayed in Rev. v, when the Lamb 
that was slain, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, 
receives investiture of the kingdom, has not yet taken 
place. The proof of this statement is twofold: (a) 
the successive opening of the seven Seals is connected 
with the Coming of the Lord at the time of the End. 
The sixth and the seventh Seals make this absolutely 
certain. No time seems to elapse between taking the 
book and opening the Seals. Upon taking the book 
He at once proceeds to open its Seals. But the open- 
ing of the Seals ushers in the " signs " which im- 
mediately precede the Advent, Rev. vi: 12-17; 5> 
Matt, xxiv: 29-31; Mar. xiii: 24-27; Lil. xxi: 25-28. 



VISION OF HEAVEN OPENED. 67 



(b) Both Daniel (vii) and the Lord (Lu. xix) con- 
nect the triumphant establishment of the Kingdom 
over all the world with Christ's Coming. Hence, the 
investiture immediately precedes the Advent. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



The Opening of the Seven Seals, vi-viii: 1-5. 

Mighty movements on earth follow the successive 
breaking of the Seals. At the repeated cry of the 
Living Creatures, Come, four horsemen in rapid suc- 
cession set forth on their mission. Each is dis- 
tinguished from the others by the color of his horse 
and by what he carries. The first rider has a bow, 
his horse is white, and to him as an unfailing con- 
queror a crown is given. He is a victorious, military 
chieftain. The second carries a great sword, his 
horse is red, and it is given him to take peace from 
the earth. He is the personification of war. The 
third rides a black horse, and bears a pair of ballances. 
He prefigures famine, scarcity, though it is not al- 
together total. The fourth rider is Death, and Hades 
as a devouring demon follows at his heels; his horse 
is pale, and he has power to kill with the sword, and 
with hunger, and with death (or pestilence), and with 
the wild beasts. 

What do these strange, mystic horsemen signify? 
What do they represent? Of course they are sym- 
bolic, and must be so understood, but they are intended 
to picture a dread reality; they are to have their 
realization in historical time. To interpret it as a 
vision of the victorious Christ by His Gospel sub- 
duing the world is totally inappropriate, for the whole 

68 



OPENING OF THE SEVEN SEALS. 



69 



series of horsemen, as well as the other Seals, are 
connected with war, bloodshed, famine, pestilence, 
and death. This cannot be the image of the gracious 
Prince of Peace sending forth by His messengers the 
Gospel of His grace. Rather we have here a picture 
of triumphant militarism. Matt, xxiv: 5-14 brings 
no little aid to the understanding of this vision. Our 
Lord tells us that there shall come false Christs (the 
first rider amazingly resembles a mock Messiah), and 
there shall be wars, and famines, and pestilence, and 
earthquakes, nations shall be in commotion and rev- 
olution, and God's people shall suffer tribulation and 
martyrdom — an event connecting at once with the 
opening of the fifth Seal (ver. 9). " But the end is 
not yet ;" " these are the beginning of sorrows." 

These verses of the Olivet Prophecy seem to be- 
long to the time of Jerusalem's overthrow, A. D. 79, 
as Luke reporting the same Discourse of the Lord 
plainly says, Lu. xxi: 8-20. There can be no doubt 
that the Lord Jesus had in mind the troublous times 
that preceded and accompanied the capture of Jeru- 
salem by the Romans under Titus, the horrible suffer- 
ings then endured by uncounted multitudes of Jews, 
and afflictions and slaughter of His own disciples, as 
the book of the Acts, and the later Epistles of Paul, 
and those of Peter, and Jude abundantly attest. But 
do those events, can they exhaust His predictions? 
Did wars, famines, pestilences, false prophets and 
false Messiahs end with the destruction of the holy 
city of Israel? No one would be so foolish as to 
assert it. The like things, in a little less than seventy 



70 



THE REVELATION. 



years after, reappeared in the rebellion of the im- 
poster, Bar-Cochba, who, with his following, was 
overthrown by the Emperor Hadrian, Jerusalem was 
laid in heaps, and its ruins sown with salt. In almost 
every century since the like commotions, and dis- 
turbances, and bloodshed have been repeated. It must 
be borne in mind that two prime objects were 
before our Lord's mind when He predicted the events 
of Matt, xxiv, viz. : Jerusalem's ruin and His Sec- 
ond Coming. The one object glides into the other, 
both events have some things which precede them in 
common. His prophecy is a double one, applying 
both to Jerusalem and His Advent. Accordingly, we 
believe that before He comes to earth again, and, 
perhaps, not long before, the like things that presaged 
Jerusalem's destruction will announce in the most 
solemn fashion the nearness of His appearing. His- 
tory repeates itself. Our age, the Gospel age, began 
at Jerusalem; prophetic Scripture appears to testify 
that it will terminate there. 

If the right interpretation has been given to the 
Lamb's taking the Book from the hand of Him who 
sat on the throne and opening its Seals, then the 
action of the four riders does not relate to Jerusalem's 
desolation, nor to the suffering then endured. The 
action of the horsemen belongs to the time of the 
End, to the last mighty conflict between the Son of 
Man and the hostile powers of the world. When these 
riders start forth portentous movements are afield; 
the forces are marching and massing for the final 
struggle. We think they go forth before Daniel's 



OPENING OF THE SEVEN SEALS. 71 

Seventieth Week begins its course. They clear the 
way for the monster Beast and his ten confederate 
kings. A heavenly mandate seems to summon them, 
and providence permits them to work their will, for 
restraints will then be withdrawn and the forces of the 
End-time will do as they list. The Living Beings that 
call them out are intimately associated with the 
Throne of God and its decrees, Rom. ix : 28. 

The fifth Seal is the martyr Seal, vi: 9-1 1. The 
Seer saw " under the altar the souls of them that were 
slain for the word of God, and for the testimony 
which they held." Their blood had been poured out 
like that of sacrificial victims at the altar's bottom. 
They were slain for the same cause that banished 
John to the desolate Patmos, i : 9 ; " for the word of 
God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." They 
were Christian martyrs no less than was John a 
Christian sufferer. It is held that these martyrs do 
not pertain to the Church, for their cry, "How 
long, O, Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge 
and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" 
— indicates they are on other ground than Christian. 
This view is maintained mainly to save the theory 
that the Rapture of the Church occurs at the opening 
of the fourth chapter of our book, and as this scene 
is subsequent thereto, these martyrs are not of the 
Body. But almost precisely the same language is 
employed by our Lord in Luke xviii: 7, "And shall 
not God avenge his own elect who cry day and night 
unto him, though he bear long with them? " It would 
be presumptuous to deny the application of these words 



72 



THE REVELATION, 



to Christians. The context settles that matter. The 
method of interpretation which deftly puts an incon- 
venient text out of the way so as to save the view 
is perilously close to that of the rationalist who says 
of Scripture that cuts across his theory, " It is spuri- 
ous," " an interpolation," " it don't apply." Why try 
to rob these martyrs of their heritage? If they are 
not members of the Body, neither is John, for he and 
they stand precisely on the same ground, suffer for the 
same reason—" the word of God and the testimony 
of Jesus Christ." All the Seals pertain to the time 
just before Christ's Advent. 

The martyrdom of these saints post-dates the sum- 
mons to the four horsemen. For aught told us to the 
contrary, they were slain by the order of these riders. 
Persecution, no doubt, deepens and intensifies through 
the sanguinary and cruel action of the horsemen. 
Hence, other martyrs are to follow them. These must 
wait till their brethren have been put to death before 
God will execute judgment on their murderers. This 
fact, as already intimated, obviously links these suf- 
ferers with all who succeed them, including no doubt 
those of the Great Tribulation itself. 

These and all other martyrs of Christ will have a 
triumphant vindication in due time, cf. xi: 18. They 
will be raised up, and will live and reign with Christ 
a thousand years, xx: 4, 5. " This is the first resur- 
rection." So the Spirit of God witnesses. No resur- 
rection of saint or martyr takes place before this, else 
it could not by any possibility be called " the first 
resurrection." It occurs when Christ returns to earth 



OPENING OF THE SEVEN SEALS. 



73 



in visible majesty and overwhelming power and glory, 
as chap, xix: 11-21 so graphically reveals. As we 
read it, the Apocalypse has no other resurrection, 
knows no other resurrection than this " first." 

The opening of the sixth Seal is succeeded by 
extraordinary convulsions of nature and universal con- 
sternation of men, vi: 12-17. These are the "signs" 
which immediately precede the Advent of Christ. It 
is " the Day of the Lord," the Day of most appalling 
phenomena, as the prophets testify, cf. Isa. xiii: 9, 10; 
Joel ii; 30, 31; iii: 14-16; Zeph. i: 14-18; Zech. xiv: 
6, 7, etc. The signs are the precursor of the visible 
appearing of Jesus Christ. They precede the actual 
Coming by the briefest space of time, and they im- 
mediately follow the Great Tribulation. Our Lord 
foretells this " sign-time " in graphic terms, Matt, 
xxiv: 29; Luke xxi: 25-28. Nothing in the world's 
history has yet happened which on any fair principle 
of interpretation even approaches the fulfilment of the 
contents of this sixth Seal. The conversion of Con- 
stantine, the fall of the Roman Empire, the irruption 
of the Barbarians, the French Revolution — not one of 
these events, nor all of them combined, are anywhere 
near an accomplishment of the " signs," else, as one 
tersely puts it, " the majesty of the prediction is lost 
in the poverty of its fulfilment." 

The opening of the seventh Seal is the consum- 
mation, viii: 1, 5. 



74 



THE REVELATION. 



The Episode of the Sealed and the Saved, chap. vii. 

As already noted, this episode is introduced be- 
tween the sixth and the seventh Seals. But the time 
covered by it is certainly more than the brief space 
which lies between the " sign-time " and the Advent. 
It appears to us that it stretches over the period be- 
tween the first and the last of the Seals. The world 
movements and the activities of the great adversary 
are shown us in the first five Seals; the episode dis- 
closes to us God's activities and mercies in grace in 
this same period. First, 144,000 of Israel's tribes are 
sealed with the seal of God (cf. Ezek. ix). They are 
Jews, the seed of Abraham, for they stand in sharp 
contrast with the saved from among the Gentiles, 
vs. 9-17. Two companies, quite distinct from one 
another, are here brought to view, viz.: the 144,000 
(square of 12,000) sealed out of Israel, and the innu- 
merable hosts gathered from among the nations, v : 9. 
The purpose of the sealing is to secure these chosen 
Hebrews against the wrath which is about to be 
poured out on the ungodly. Hence, the four angels 
standing on earth's "four corners" are bidden to 
hold back the judgments until these are safe under the 
seal of God. The same company appears under the 
sounding of the fifth Trumpet, and they are preserved 
from its desolation because they have as here in the 
episode the seal of God in their foreheads (ix: 4). 
It is difficult to locate the time of the sealing, but it 
seems almost certain it belongs to a point before the 
Tribulation begins, for these believing Jews are no 



OPENING OF THE SEVEN SEALS. 



75 



doubt the fruit of the testimony of the Two Wit- 
nesses (xi), and if so, their sealing belongs to the time 
of the four riders (vi:i-8). 

Second, an innumerable host of saved Gentiles are 
seen in glory, before the throne of God, clad in white 
raiment, with palm branches in their hands. They 
have come to their place of bliss through the " great 
tribulation " (the Greek is most emphatic, " the tribu- 
lation the great one"). It is one of unprecedented 
trouble, of unparalleled suffering. Daniel speaks of it 
as a "time of trouble, such as never was since there 
was a nation even to that same time" (Dan. xii: i). 
Jeremiah also, "Alas! for that day is great, so that 
none is like it; it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; 
but he shall be saved out of it" (Jer. xxx: 7). 
Christ likewise, " For then shall be great tribulation, 
such as hath not been from the beginning of the world 
until now; no, nor ever shall be" (Matt, xxiv: 21). 
Never yet has this tribulation, so unequalled in intensity 
and aw fulness taken place. It is still future, but 
as seen in this vision the saved have passed through it, 
and are now in glory. The sealed 144,000 seem to 
have been preserved through it, sheltered from its 
dreadfulness by the seal of God. 

It is the judgment of trustworthy interpreters o£ 
prophecy that the last or Seventieth Week of Daniel's 
mystic Seventy has never yet run its course in human 
history, Dan. ix : 24-27. It still belongs to the future. 
The Week consists of seven years of literal time. The 
prophets divide it into two equal parts of three and 
one-half years each, Dan. vii: 25; xii: 7; Rev. xii: 14. 



7 6 



THE REVELATION. 



Each half of the Week is also spoken of as forty-two 
months, Rev. xi: 2; xiii: 5, and as 1,260 days, Rev. 
xi: 3; xii: 6. The following diagram may serve to 
illustrate the divided Week: 

Daniel's Seventieth Week — Seven Years. 



3% years years, Dan. xii: 7. 
42 months, Rev. xi: 2. 
1,260 days, Rev. xi: 3. 



3% years, Rev. xii : 14. 
42 months, Rev. xiii: 5. 
1,260 days, Rev. xii: 6. 



The numbers of each half of the Week, though 
expressed in years, months, and days, designate the 
same period — three and a half years twice over, seven 
years in all. We believe this to be literal time. 

The world's crisis, the culmination of evil, the 
tremendous judgments of God, the First Resurrection 
and the inauguration of the Millennium are all nar- 
rowed into the compass of these seven years of time. 
Israel's age-long exile and suffering will then termi- 
nate in their restoration to God, and their reinstate- 
ment in the divine favor, nevermore to be rejected 
and cast off. But these seven years will mark mo- 
mentous events, unexampled suffering, colossal wick- 
edness, and the wrath of God poured out to the 
uttermost. 

It is difficult, if not impossible, accurately to say 
just what events will take place in each part of this 
divided Week, these seven years. It must be kept in 
mind that the outburst of godlessness, which will then 
reach its climax, has had a gradual development, has 



OPENING OF THE SEVEN SEALS. 



long been gathering force and ripening. As an 
ancient writer expresses it, " The road is long in pre- 
paring, but the end of it is sudden and swift." It is 
quite possible that the first four Seals lie before the 
Seven Years begin their course. The fifth Seal be- 
longs in part to each half, for there will no doubt be 
martyrs, both in the one and in the other. There is 
little doubt but that the Two Witnesses (Rev. xi) 
testify during the first half of the Week, and die 
before the events of the second half begin their course. 
The Tribulation is certainly in the second half. The 
Beast appears in the first half when he slays the Wit- 
nesses; he comes to the summit of his bad pre-emi- 
nence in the second. Israel is in both halves, as also are 
Gentile believers. There will be a martyred rem- 
nant of Israel, and also a spared remnant. It is the 
spared remnant that is sealed and kept during the 
time of trouble. The unnumbered throng of Gentile 
martyrs are in this episode seen in glory: resurrection 
accordingly for them is here prospectively accom- 
plished. There will also be a sheltered remnant of 
Gentile saints, Rev. iii: 10. 



CHAPTER IX. 



The Seven Trumpets, viii: 6 — xi: 18. 

Like the Vials, the Trumpets are judicial; they in- 
flict judgment on the wicked and the ungodly of the 
time of the end. The first four smite, not guilty man 
directly, but certain objects of nature which are 
essential to man's well-being. The first strikes vege- 
tation; the second the sea; the third the rivers and 
fountains of waters; the fourth the sun, moon, and 
stars. These beneficent powers of nature, on which 
man is so dependent for his well-being, are stripped of 
one-third of their energy under the judgments of 
God. Through nature God chastises the ungodly. If 
they should bow to His rod and repent, no doubt the 
judgments would be removed. But the two Woe 
Trumpets which deal directly with men, and inflict 
on them the heaviest punishments, prove they do not 
repent, they grew worse and worse (ix: 20, 21). The 
Trumpets do not begin to sound at the same 
point where the Seals begin. The first Trumpet ap- 
parently starts where the third Seal ends and the 
fourth begins. They all, however, terminate at the 
same point — the consummation. 

The fifth Trumpet (ix: 1-11; 1st Woe) brings a 
fearful scourge upon the earth. It seems to involve 
all men and nature in its sweep. There are two ex- 
emptions, however, the "locusts" from the smoke of 

78 



THE SEVEN TRUMPETS. 



79 



the pit must not hurt vegetation, nor touch the men 
who had the seal of God in their forehead, ver. 4. 
On the others the blow falls with utmost violence, and 
with crushing effect, so that the guilty sufferers seek 
death and do not find it, death flies from them. The 
torture lasts for five months. 

The historical interpreters find the fulfilment of 
this vision of the scorpion-like locusts in the Saracen 
armies, the Fallen Star being their prophet, Mo- 
hammed. Others regard these scourges as the armies 
of heretics and infidels; others still, as swarms of 
demons let loose on the guilty world, their king and 
leader being no other than the devil himself. Not one 
of these interpretations is satisfactory. That of the 
historical school has historical ground for it. There 
is a remarkable parallelism between the prediction 
here and the rise and progress of Islam. Even Wil- 
liam Kelly, a staunch futurist, does not shrink from 
saying, " I do not doubt that the common application 
of the locusts to the Saracens, and of the Euphratean 
horsemen to the Turks is well founded." The dif- 
ficulty lies in this, the Woe Trumpets sound at the time 
of the end, in Daniel's Seventieth Week, and hence 
events which occurred a thousand years ago cannot 
possibly exhaust this mighty prophecy. They 
adumbrate it, but are not its complete fulfilment. 

The following explanation of this vision is def- 
ferentially submitted. The key to its meaning is 
found in the phrase of ver. 4, " men who have not 
the seal of God in their foreheads/' Those who have 
that seal are exempt from the judgment which now 



8o 



THE REVELATION. 



falls. The reference must be to the 144,000 sealed of 
vii: 1-8. They are Hebrews, and the seal shields 
them from the " torment " of the invading army here 
foretold. At the time of the vision Israel in large 
numbers is back in the Land; most of them are un- 
believing, some of them have become the true people 
of God. These are protected, those are exposed to 
the fury of the invading host. That host, it is be- 
lieved, is identical with Ezekiel's Gog, prince of Rosh, 
Meshech, and Tubal, Ezek. xxxviii: lxxxix; Joel ii. 
Ezekiel's prophecy locates the time " in that day," 
xxxviii: 10, 14, " when my people Israel dwelleth 
securely." In Joel it is the Day of the Lord, ii: 1. In 
Joel the army resembles locusts in the suddenness of 
their appearance, their countless numbers, their irre- 
sistible progress, and their insatiable rapacity. But 
they do not prey on the sealed of God, they do not 
touch earth's vegetation, they smite the unbelieving 
among men. It is quite possible Russia will have the 
chief part in this invasion, but she will not be alone 
in it. Swarms of other peoples will also engage in it, 
as Ezekiel clearly announces. All these invaders, 
this huge host of Gog, will be animated by a satanic 
spirit, and will be filled with the fury of demons. 
They bring with them the smoke of the Pit. The 
plague is of but short duration, it lasts but five 
months, ix: 5. 

The sixth Trumpet, vision of the Euphratean Horse- 
men, ix: 13-21. This is the second of the Woe 
Trumpets, and, like the first, it must be one of calamity. 
Such it assuredly is. By this countless army of 200,- 



THE SEVEN TRUMPETS. 



81 



000,000, ver. 16, the third part of men are killed. No 
exemption of the sealed of God is made, nor of 
earth's productions, as in the case of the other Woe; 
the terrific judgment here falls with merciless force. 
The language of course is symbolical. The four 
angels, " bound " perhaps, mean the providential re- 
straints of armed forces from the East. The Eu- 
phrates connects the thought with Babylon, and 
Babylon is directly associated with the Beast, chap, 
xvii. It may, therefore, be that it is the imperial army 
of the Antichrist, provoked by the coming into Pales- 
time of the king of the North with his hordes, as the 
prophets reveal (Ezek. xxxviii: 6, 15; Dan. xi: 40; 
Joel ii: 20). Daniel, in chap, xi: 40-45, predicts the 
invasion of Palestine by the wilful king (the Beast 
or Antichrist), and the attack on him by the kings of 
the north and the south, and apparently the king's 
victory over those combined forces. It may be that 
this vast army (we think the number 200,000,000 is 
ideal, not literal, denoting an extraordinary large 
army) will consist mainly of Mohammedans, who in 
that day will combine against the Wilful King, who 
will then be seeking the subjugation of the whole 
earth. Surely that dreadful scourge of the ages, 
Mohammedanism, will hold a conspicuous place in 
the scenes of the last days. Its dark record of 
despotism, desolation, ravage and slaughter, will, pos- 
sibly, end with one supreme effort to regain its vanish- 
ing power and its lost territories. But certainty as 
to the full significance of this vision of the Euphratean 
army is at present unattainable. The historical in- 



82 



THE REVELATION. 



terpreters find its fulfilment in the invasion of west- 
ern Asia by the Turks, which resulted in the capture of 
Constantinople (A. D. 1453). There is a remarkable 
parallelism between the prediction as thus viewed and 
the historical facts. It can hardly be doubted but that 
it then received a partial and anticipatory accomplish- 
ment. But the vision belongs specifically to the time 
of the end. It may be that then Islam will put forth 
its last and most vigorous exertion to preserve its 
existence, and thus fulfil this vision. 

The locust-like army of the fifth Trumpet torment 
men with their sting. The Euphratean horsemen 
kill the third part of men. The scourge lasts for a 
definite period ; namely, " the hour, and day, and 
month, and year." Its beginning, duration, and end 
are fixed by divine decree. That this great army is 
human, and not a countless multitude of evil spirits 
as some think, seems to us certain. It must be con- 
stantly borne in mind that the movements of nations 
and of men in the last times will be on a scale of vast- 
ness almost beyond what we can now conceive. Pro- 
phecy appears to involve the whole world in the 
revolutions and convulsions of those days. 

The third Woe Trumpet, xi: 15-19 — the seventh and 
last. Heavenly voices announce, " The kingdom of 
the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and 
of His Christ ; and He shall reign for ever and ever," 
xi: 15, R. V. The world-kingdom has now become 
the Lord's, so the words signify. Obviously, this 
is the final consummation, the End. Accordingly, 
the twenty-four Elders say, " Thou hast taken thy 



THE SEVEN TRUMPETS. 



83 



great power and didst reign. And the nations were 
wroth, and thy wrath came, and the time of the dead 
to be judged, and the time to give their reward to 
thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to 
them that fear thy name, the small and the great ; and 
to destroy them that destroy the earth," vers. 16-18. 
This language unmistakably denotes the time of the 
End. It is very notable. (1) The rage of the nations, 
(2) God's wrath visited upon them, (3) resurrection 
and vindication of the saints, (4) distribution of re- 
wards among God's people, (5) overthrow of earth's 
destroyers. We do not think that the wicked share 
in this resurrection. The term " Judged " means to 
judge with the purpose of vindication, and the dead 
thus judged are described as exclusively belonging 
to God. There is no hint here of the presence of the 
wicked dead. The righteous alone are here, to whom 
the blessed Judge gives His gracious rewards. The 
seventh Trumpet is the last and the resurrection 
trumpet, 1 Cor. xv: 52. 

The words of the Elders are noteworthy, "We 
give thee thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who 
art and who wast/' xi: 17. The clause " and art to 
come " is omitted in the Revisions, and in all the late 
critical Greek texts (Alford, Wescott & Hort, Wey- 
mouth, and Nestle). In i: 4, 8, ; iv: 8, the ascription 
is, " Who was, and who is, and who is to come," or 
"who cometh." But here in xi: 17 the final clause 
is omitted, "who cometh." Why? Manifestly be- 
cause the Lord actually comes when the seventh 



8 4 



THE REVELATION. 



Trumpet sounds. In iv: 8 He has not come, He is 

still the coming One. 

The Episode, chaps, x-xi : 14. 

This episode, like that of the Seals, is interposed 
between the sixth and the seventh Trumpet. Space 
will allow but brief remarks on three subjects in these 
chapters. (1.) The Oath of the Angel and his solemn 
proclamation, x: 5-7. His imposing attitude, his up- 
lifted right hand, and his appeal to Him who is the 
Living One, attest the momentousness and truth of 
his announcement, " There shall be no longer delay." 
Not that time is then to end and eternity begin, but 
that God will now at length interpose and put an end 
to the lawlessness and the crimes of the world. The 
angel asserts that this interposition will take place at 
the sounding of the seventh Trumpet; then the mys- 
tery of God will be finished — the secret of His let- 
ting His foes have their own way and of letting the 
bad triumph and the good be trodden underfoot. 
All this will terminate with the 7th Trumpet, xi: 1-18. 

(2.) The temple and the holy city, xi: 1, 2. These 
certainly cannot be the heavenly temple and city, nor 
the Christian church. For " the court" is cast out 
as unholy and polluted. No chronological scheme can 
be devised for the past or the present that will give 
42 months of desolation either for the church or the 
earthly Jerusalem. The two Witnesses have never 
yet appeared in connection with Jerusalem and the 
Jews; but the temple, the city and the testimony of 



THE SEVEN TRUMPETS. 



85 



the witnesses are certainly connected with the land 
of Palestine, and particularly with Jerusalem. Nor 
has the Beast appeared, nor have the witnesses been 
slain by him. Accordingly, it seems to us that be- 
yond peradventure what is foretold in this episode 
belongs to the future, and the scenes and events an- 
nounced in it will take place in the days of the Seals, 
the Trumpets and Vials, i. e., at the End. 

(3.) The Two Witnesses, xi : 3-13. God will never 
leave Himself without a witness even in the dreadful 
times of the End. Before the final deliverance ar- 
rives for Israel two Witnesses will testify for God in 
the midst of Jerusalem, and miraculous powers will 
once more be exhibited among the chosen people. 
We are not told who these Witnesses are nor whence. 
The account given of them is brief but rich in sug- 
gestion. They are clothed in sackcloth, emblem of 
humiliation and of affliction; their ministry is one 
of appeal and denunciation, hence calculated to arouse 
antagonism. " These are the two olive trees and 
the two candlesticks, standing before the Lord of the 
earth" (cf. Zech. iv: 3, 11, 14). They are anointed 
for an extraordinary work, and they are endued with 
supernatural power to execute it. They can shut hea- 
ven, and they can smite men. Their ministry lasts 
for 1260 days, L e., three and a half years, when they 
are slain by the Beast, and their bodies are refused 
burial. How bitter must be the hostility against 
them! After three and a half days they are raised 
up, and summoned to heaven by a " great voice," 
" Come up hither !" 



86 



THE REVELATION. 



Are these witnesses two individual men? So the 
passage appears to teach. Many, however, think they 
represent two companies of witnesses, at the head 
of which two men stand as chief. Even some 
staunch futurists, as James Smith and William Kelly, 
incline to this view. The majority believe that they 
are in reality but two individual men. Some sup- 
pose they are Enoch and Elijah; others, Moses and 
Elijah. The only evidence in support of the opinion 
is the miracles wrought by them are closely akin to 
those of Moses and Elijah. Beyond this there is not 
a hint that they are sent to earth from the unseen 
world. It is extremely improbable that these saints, 
after centuries of bliss in heaven, should be dispatched 
to earth to bear witness to Jews and Gentiles. The 
passage does not require such an interpretation. All 
it demands is, that the witnesses be invested with 
supernatural authority and with miraculous power. 
John the Baptist is an analogous instance of such 
witness-bearing. He came in the " spirit and power 
of Elijah " (Lu. i: 17). Jesus said of him — " That 
Elijah is indeed come, and they have done unto him 
whatsoever they listed" (Matt, xvii: 12). But John 
was not Elijah. He might have done all predicted 
of Elijah had the Jews received him and his testimony 
(Matt, xi: 14). If two men shall appear in the last 
days, as these two assuredly will, and bear the wit- 
ness of God to rebellious men in the spirit and power 
of Moses and Elijah, the terms of this prophecy will 
be met. 

The historical interpretators cite a striking instance 



THE SEVEN TRUMPETS. 



87 



of the accomplishment of xi: 3-13, according to their 
method of exposition. In A. D. 1512-17 the Fifth 
Lateran Council was held in Rome. A papal bull was 
issued in December, 15 13, which commanded all dis- 
sidents from papal authority to appear in due time be- 
fore the Council, and show cause for their refusal to 
acknowledge the pope's supremacy. When the time 
appointed arrived to hear such cause, no answer to 
Leo's summons appeared. The orator of that session 
(May, 1514) uttered, amidst the applause of the 
Council, the memorable exclamation, " There is an end 
of resistance to the papal rule and religion; opposers 
exist no more!" Evangelical testimony was hushed! 
Three years and a half later, almost to a day (Octo- 
ber, 1 5 17) Luther nailed his theses to the Wittenberg 
church-door ! It looks much as if the witnesses were 
indeed slain, but they gloriously revive in the power 
of the great Reformation. We have no good reason to 
reject this application of the prophecy as a partial 
and proleptic fulfilment. But it does not meet all the 
facts. The witnesses beyond question prosecute their 
ministry in Jerusalem, and there they are slain, xi: 8. 
Besides, the Beast, it seems to us, cannot be merely 
a corrupt and apostate ecclesiastical system like Po- 
pery ; he comes from the " abyss ;" he is, or seems to 
be, a man, not only an organization such as Roman- 
ism is. Furthermore, the witnesses appear just before 
the seventh Trumpet sounds when the consummation 
is reached and the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, comes 
and establishes His Kingdom over the world. 

Apparently the ministry of the two witnesses ends 



88 



THE REVELATION. 



in total failure. But the failure is only apparent. 

The most blessed results follow the testimony which 
brought them to martyrdom. We have no doubt 
that the conversion of Israel's remnant of sealed ones 
(vii: 1-8) is the glorious issue of their work as the 
following chapters appear to indicate. 



CHAPTER X. 



The Intercalated Visions, chaps, xii, xiii, xiv. 

With this great section the student is confronted 
by some of the most intricate and perplexing problems 
of the Apocalypse. Help from books of a substan- 
tial sort is painfully meagre. The more one reads 
the less certainty he has as to its meaning. Happy 
he who catches glimpses of the massive truth hidden 
behind the stupendous imagery of this section of 
Revelation! Let it be ours to cautiously thread our 
way through the intricacies of these chapters, seek- 
ing to grasp only the prominent things signified in 
them and passing by details of exposition. 

Chap, xii has two " signs " — a sun-clothed Woman 
and a great, red dragon. Our first inquiry relates 
to this " sign " of the Woman. Who is she? What 
does she represent? The conjectures of writers are 
multitudinous and generally contradictory. We 
need not burden the page with enumerating them. 
We assume that she is not the Virgin Mary, for the 
history of our Saviour's mother does not correspond 
with what is told us of this sun-clothed woman. She 
is not the Christian Church, for in no proper or ade- 
quate sense can we affirm that she gives birth to the 
Man-Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of 
iron, and who was caught up to the throne of God. 
It is by Messiah the Church is born, certainly not by 

8 9 



9 o 



THE REVELATION. 



the Church Messiah becomes incarnate. The Church 
in all ages and generations is composed of members 
who are brought into it by the Spirit of God, and one 
by one, individually. The Woman here gives birth 
to one majestic and glorious Son; the event is consum- 
mated at once, not prolonged through ages, as is the 
case with the Christian Church, and even with the 
Jewish Church. 

We believe that the key to the significance of this 
great " sign " is found in the 19th verse of the pre- 
ceding chapter. After the seventh Trumpet has 
sounded and the consummation is at length come, the 
Seer goes back and starts once more with a fresh vis- 
ion, which leads him into the marvellous revelations 
contained in these chapters. In xi : 19 we read : "And 
the temple (sanctuary) of God was opened in heaven, 
and there was seen in his temple the ark of the cove- 
nant." This is strictly Jewish ground; the temple, 
the ark, the covenant belong to Israel, represent He- 
brew relations with God and Hebrew privileges. The 
Spirit now takes up Jewish things, Jewish standing, 
covenant, hopes, dangers, tribulations and triumph. 
The verse connects with what follows, is introductory 
to it — is explanatory also. The Man-Child is cer- 
tainly the Lord Jesus Christ. The woman is not a 
literal female; she is the symbol of the Messianic na- 
tion, the Daughter of Zion; for through her, Israel, 
Christ was given to the world (Rom. ix: 5). But 
the prophet is not here tracing Israel's history, nor that 
of Israel's Messiah; this is not his theme. In a mag- 
nificent picture he sets forth Israel's connection with 



THE INTERCALATED VISIONS. 



91 



Messiah, first, in His incarnation, and second, the 
conversion of the first instalment, the firstfruits of the 
chosen people to God, vii: 1-8; xiv: 1-5. The chap- 
ter touches the first Advent, then sketches the events 
that pertain to the time of the second Advent. 

The Dragon is the old Serpent, the Devil and Satan, 
xii: 9. Full of hatred against the Woman, Israel, 
whom he has never ceased to persecute, whose Son he 
sought to slay at Bethlehem, he now appears in his 
last disguise. He is seen as a huge Dragon, half ser- 
pent and half wild beast, with seven crowned heads 
and ten horns. His outward form links him at once 
with the revived World Empire, as chap, xiii unmis- 
takably proves. Neither Rome pagan or papal ever 
had such disguise; never yet has appeared a power 
with seven heads and ten horns, or with what this 
symbol portrays. Beyond question the apparition of 
this monster, energized as he will be by the Devil, be- 
longs to the future. An event of worldwide import 
precedes or accompanies the appearing of the seven- 
headed monster on earth. "And there was war in 
heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the 
dragon; and the dragon fought, and his angels, and 
prevailed not; neither was their place found any more 
in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out," xii: 
7-9, Cf. Dan. xii: 1, 2. Immediately upon the dejec- 
tion of the great adversary from " heaven " to earth 
a shout of gladness rings through heaven, " Now is 
come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our 
God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of 
our brethren is cast down, which accuseth them be- 



92 



THE REVELATION. 



fore our God day and night," ver. 10. The ground of 
Satan's accusation is human unfaithfulness, unbelief; 
in Israel's case, apostasy. So long as the Jews re- 
main obdurate and apostate from God and from His 
Messiah, so long the enemy holds his vantage ground. 
But what is it which brings about his dejection? In 
Dan. xii : i it is Michael who " stands up, the great 
prince which standeth for the children of thy people " 
(Daniel's people). In Rev. xii: 7, 8 it is likewise 
Michael fighting against the dragon and overcoming 
him. But more is told us: "And they overcame him 
by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their 
testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the 
death." These are saints on earth who have come to 
faith in Jesus Christ, who receive Him as Saviour, 
and who bear faithful witness to Him in the midst of 
trial and affliction. They are Jewish believers, and 
their conversion seems to synchronize with the " war 
in heaven." 

The words of other prophets confirm and explain 
these symbolic pictures. Micah predicts the first ad- 
vent of the Redeemer, then foretells Israel's rejection 
and restoration : " Therefore will he give them up, 
until the time that she which travaileth hath brought 
forth: then the residue of his brethren shall return 
unto the children of Israel " (v: 2, 3). Isaiah speaks 
of the same event : " Before she travailed she brought 
forth; before her pain came she was delivered of a 
man-child. Shall a nation be born in one day? For 
as soon as Zion travailed she brought forth her chil- 
dren " (lxvi: 7, 8). Israel's conversion, even as to 



THE INTERCALATED VISIONS. 



the " firstfruits," the 144,000 of sealed ones, as we 
think is here specially meant, precipitates the crisis. 
Satan, cast down from his high place of accusation, 
rages on earth, persecutes the Woman and goes to 
make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the 
commandments of God, and hold the testimony of 
Jesus, xii: 17. 

According to Daniel, when Michael " stands up " 
for Israel, the time of unprecedented trouble begins 
(xii: 1, 2). According to John, when saints over- 
come the Dragon because of the blood of the Lamb 
and of the word of their testimony, the seven-headed 
and ten-horned Foe furiously assails the Woman and 
the remnant of her seed who believe. It is the open- 
ing of the Great Tribulation, the time of Jacob's 
" trouble. " But if the Dragon is busy God is even 
busier. If the one determines the annihilation of the 
Woman, the Other determines to save her. And so 
she is given two wings of a great eagle whereby she 
flies into the wilderness, where God has provided for 
her a place of safety and of nourishment during the 
whole period of the Tribulation, three and a half 
years. The flight is from Jerusalem and Judea; it 
is also from the deadly wrath of the Beast, the Anti- 
christ, Satan's agent and tool. It is, we do not doubt, 
the sealed company of believing Israelites, the 144,- 
000 of chap, vii and chap, xiv, who flee for safety, 
God provides for their safety. 

John is not alone in this prediction. Other proph- 
ets refer to the same event. Thus Zechariah an- 
nounces that the nations shall be gathered together 



94 



THE REVELATION. 



against Jerusalem, that the city shall be taken and 
plundered, that half its population shall go into cap- 
tivity, but " the residue of the people shall not be cut 
off from the city." God in a most marvellous manner 
will interpose in behalf of His suffering remnant, and 
will cleave out of the mountain of Olives a valley of 
escape; and the prophet adds: "And ye shall flee by 
the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the 
mountains shall reach unto Azel : yea, ye shall flee, 
like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days 
of Uzziah king of Judah ; and Jehovah my God shall 
come, and all the holy ones with thee," Zech. xiv: 1-5. 
Daniel (xi: 41) declares that "the King," the Anti- 
christ, will be prevented from taking Edom, Moab, 
and Ammon. All other lands will fall under his vic- 
torious arms. These shall escape. May it be that 
it is to this rocky, almost inaccessible territory the 
saved remnant will flee? Cf. Psa. lx: 9-1 1. 

Foiled in the effort to destroy the Woman, the furi- 
ous Dragon turns his rage against the rest of her seed 
who " keep the commandments of God, and hold the 
testimony of Jesus," xii: 17. These are believing 
Jews, and seem to constitute the martyred remnant 
of the Tribulation. Believing Gentiles will also suf- 
fer; perhaps the countless throng of vii: 9-14. 

The sum of the teaching of this profound and diffi- 
cult vision we conceive to be the following: 

1. The Sun-clothed Woman is Israel, the Daughter 
of Zion, seen mainly in the time of the End. She is 
the Messianic Mother. 

2. The Dragon is the Devil, disguised in his last. 



THE INTERCALATED VISIONS. 



his most effective, and yet most hideous mask he has 
ever worn. 

3. " War in heaven " describes Satan's expulsion 
from his place of eminence and power, and the crisis 
of the world immediately ensues. 

4. Security of the mystic Woman, Israel's sealed 
company. 

5. War against the Woman's seed, Israel's mar- 
tyred remnant. 

6. Martyrdom of the countless throng of Gentile 
believers, vii : 9-14. 

The conversion of Israel's " firstfruits," the sealed 
company of 144,000, and the dejection of the old Ser- 
pent from heaven synchronize. It is this conversion 
of Israel's sealed and martyred remnants which de- 
stroys the devil's ground of accusation against the 
saints, and forshortens the period of his malignant 
activity ; but it intensifies his rage. 

The Two Wild Beasts, Chap. xiii. 

"And he stood upon the sand of the sea" (xiii: 1 
R. V.). It is the Dragon that thus stands by the sea- 
shore. Defeated in his efforts to " drown " the Wo- 
man (xii: 15, 16), L e., Israel's newly converted " first- 
fruits," Satan now calls into action his two agents 
and allies, the Beast and the False Prophet. Out of 
the sea the first wild beast rises (cf. Dan. vii: 2). 
The sea torn by the winds is the lively image of na- 
tions and peoples in commotion and revolution* It 
is out of a disrupted condition of civil society this huge 



96 



THE REVELATION. 



Beast comes into being. It is out of such a state 
imperialism always originates. By these two formid- 
able agents, the reorganized imperial World-sove- 
reignty and the False Prophet, the devil will make 
war against the Woman's seed, seek to destroy Is- 
rael, and so thwart the gracious purposes of the Son 
of God. 

The Beast from the sea is the heir and successor of 
Daniel's four, which are symbols of successive empires 
or kingdoms (Dan. vii: 17, 23) — the Babylonian, 
Medo-Persian, Greco-Macedonian, and Roman. This 
is evident from the composition of John's great symbol. 
The lion, the bear, the leopard, and the ten-horned 
monster, each distinct in Daniel, are all united in one 
in John's, xiii: 2. He has seven heads and ten horns 
with ten diadems on his horns. The great red dragon 
of xii: 3 has the same number of heads and horns. 
Are there, then, two separate powers, the Dragon and 
the Beast, in the field of action at the same time? 
Certainly not. When first seen by John in his vision, 
the Dragon has the symbolic form of the Beast; he 
has seven heads and ten horns; but he transfers his 
" power, and his throne, and great authority " (xiii: 2) 
to his ungodly agent. It is through this new force 
the devil will exert all his energy and vent all his rage. 

The seven heads represent seven kings or kingdoms 
(Dan. vii: 17, 23; Rev. xvii: 10). Five of them had 
fallen when John wrote, the sixth, the Roman Empire, 
was then dominant over most of earth. A seventh 
kingdom, universal in its sway and altogether satanic 
in its origin and character, was to come and was to 



THE INTERCALATED VISIONS. 



endure for a short space, Rev. xvii: 10. One of the 
heads, presumably the sixth, the Roman, was seen 
wounded unto death. It fell beneath the victorious 
swords of the so-called Barbarians, the Goths, Van- 
dals, Huns, and other foes, and it ceased to be. But 
it is to be restored to life ; the Seer adds, it " shall 
come," or, as the Sinai MS. expressively reads, " it 
shall be present again." A worldwide sovereignty, 
energized by Satan and his most obedient tool, is yet 
to arise. We hold that these seven heads or empires 
of the Beast from the sea are not seven forms of rule 
of. the Roman State, as many writers affirm; e. g. y 
kings, consuls, decemvirs, military tribunes, dictators, 
emperors. They are successive empires; they stand 
for those world-powers that have been the oppressors 
and persecutors of God's people. We believe they 
symbolize the following kingdoms: Egypt, Assyria, 
Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome. This view is 
confirmed by the fact that in John's huge Beast all 
the characteristic features of Daniel's four Brutes are 
found (cf. Dan. vii: 1-7; Rev. xiii: 2). These six 
Powers have long since disappeared. No world-sov- 
ereignty has there been since the fall of the Roman 
Empire. Ambitious soldiers like Charlemagne and 
the first Napoleon have attempted the formation of 
one universal government with himself at its head; 
but they have utterly failed. Prophecy distinctly an- 
nounces that one vast united kingdom shall yet arise. 
It will come at the time of the end of the age. It will 
consist of ten confederated kingdoms, each ruled over 
by a king. So much the ten " horns " signify, xvii : 
7 



9 8 



THE REVELATION. 



12. On the Dragon's heads John saw diadems. But 
when the Beast from the sea shall appear the diadems 
are transferred to the ten " horns/' or ten kings, who 
rule in unison with the imperial head. In chap, xvii : 

13, 14 we are told " they receive authority, with the 
beast, for one hour." " One hour " certainly does not 
denote mere time, a space of sixty minutes, but one 
and the same time. They enter into a close alliance with 
the Beast at one and the same time, and he and they 
thereby constitute in their united capacity the vast fede- 
ration, the consolidated world-empire of the last days. 
These ten kings " give their power and their strength 
unto the Beast." On a worldwide scale there will 
then be constituted the United States of the prophetic 
earth. Such a form of government on so vast a scale 
has never yet been seen. But God's word solemnly 
predicts that there shall be. As a personal belief we 
may add that it will have for its center and its seat 
the nations of Europe, particularly those grouped 
around the Mediterranean sea. Out of the present 
European state system the coming federated Empire 
will be formed, though it will not be confined to these. 
That there are tendencies now discernible for such an 
international union no thoughtful person can fail to 
see. Our age is pre-eminently a federating age. For 
years the " triple Alliance " of Germany, Austria and 
Italy has existed. France, Spain and Great Britain 
stand together in support of certain Continental issues. 
Russia, the United States (for our country is tending 
manifestly toward the place and the obligations of a 
world-power), and even Japan of the far East, all 



THE INTERCALATED VISIONS. 



99 



seem to be gravitating toward a common cause and 
common center. The formation of a confederate, 
universal sovereignty, such as prophecy clearly indi- 
cates, is not only possible, but it may be realized in 
few years from now. 

At the head of this huge organization will stand the 
peerless man, the Satan-inspired man, the man in mil- 
itary genius and executive capacity, in intellectual 
brilliancy and savage ferocity, surpassing all other 
men. He and the Empire over which he shall rule 
are so thoroughly identified in the prophetic revela- 
tion as that they receive the same descriptive title, 
the awful name — The Beast! Three inspired proph- 
ets, Daniel, Paul and John, furnish a full description 
of the powers, action and end of this coming man. 
In Daniel he has " eyes like the eyes of a man," " a 
mouth speaking great things " " against the Most 
High ;" he " does according to his will ;" " magnifies 
himself above every god, nor regards the God of his 
fathers;" before him three of the horns "are plucked 
up by the roots " he wears out the saints ;" and he 
practices and prospers for " a time, and times, and the 
dividing of time" (three and a half years) (vii: 8, 
2 r 4, 25; xi: 36, 37). 

In Thess. ii he is the " Man of Sin;" one whose in- 
ner element and outer characteristic is sin, and 
nothing but sin. He has a coming (parousia) and an 
apocalypse, like the Son of God. He exalts himself 
above all that is called God or that is worshipped 
His coming is according to the working of Satan with 
all signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit of 



THE REVELATION. 



unrighteousness. He takes his seat in the temple of 
God and sets himself forth as God. Treason against 
God is his uncommon crime. In First John, ii: 22, 
he is the Antichrist who denieth the Father and the 
Son." 

In Revelation (xiii: 5-8) he blasphemes God, the 
divine Name., the heavenly Tabernacle, and all who 
dwell in heaven; makes war against the saints and 
overcomes them; and he continues forty-two months 
(three and a half years). Such in brief is the por- 
trait given by the Spirit of God of the coming Man, 
the Antichrist, the mock Messiah. 

His origin is mysterious, apparently supernatural. 
Twice in the Apocalypse it is said he " ascends out 
of the bottomless pit," xi : 7 ; xvii : 8. There is some- 
thing darkly significant in these words — " he cometh 
up out of the abyss." Some think he will be the devil 
incarnate; others, that he will be an ancient foe like 
Antiochus Epiphanes or Nero, who shall return to 
earth from the nether world. Many think he will be 
an apostate Jew. But whoever he will be or whence, 
one thing is certain, when he comes Satan will give 
him his power and his throne and great authority, 
will fill him from head to heel with his infernal energy, 
and dower him with more than human craft and cun- 
ning. 

The second Beast rises from the earth, xiii: 11-18. 
His appearance, two-horned as a lamb, suggests harm- 
lessness and even weakness, but his voice has in it the 
roar of the Dragon. His character is diabolic, and he 
acts in complete harmony with the other Beast, the 



THE INTERCALATED VISIONS. 



ten-horned and seven-headed monster. This is the 
False Prophet, xvi: 13; xix: 19; xx: 10. The true 
prophet lives in God's presence and receives his mes- 
sages from Him. This false prophet lives in the pres- 
ence of the monster Beast, and derives all his power 
and authority from him. It is his business to pro- 
mote the worship of the Beast and to bring the whole 
world into subjection to him, ver. 12. He is not an 
independent actor in the scenes of the End-time, he 
is subordinate to the first Beast, and is his servant and 
minister. Hence he simulates or actually works mir- 
acles, bringing fire from heaven as Elijah did at Car- 
mel, and endowing the image of the Beast which he 
constructs with apparent life and speech. But let it 
be noted that he does not claim divine homage for him- 
self. This the Antichrist emphatically does, as the 
prophets Daniel, Paul (2 Thess. ii: 4), and John 
(xiii: 3, 8), attest. Therefore the lamb-like beast is 
not the Antichrist, though in spirit and action he re- 
sembles him. He is Antichrist's " armour-bearer," 
as Irenseus calls him ; he is his prime minister and ally. 

Furthermore, he binds into a vast union or corpora- 
tion all the followers of the Beast, and brands them 
each with his mark and number in the forehead and in 
the right hand, so that none may buy or sell unless 
he belongs to the Federation and bears the Beast's 
cipher — the most stupendous system of " boycott " 
ever established ! The brand impressed on the Beast's 
subjects is his own name, or the number of his name, 
ver. 17. It seems very likely, therefore, that the name 
has a numerical value which is found in the addition 



102 



THE REVELATION. 



of the letters forming the name, as most, if not all, 
interpreters believe. The number of the name is 
given as 666, a trinity of sixes, but one short of per- 
fection. A perfect trinity of the number would be 
777. Antichrist's enigmatical monagram falls short 
of completeness by a trine set of digits. " It is the 
number of a man;" that is, so far as the arithmetic 
goes, it is human, not that of a brute, nor of a spirit, 
such as the devil is: Antichrist is human, a man. 
What his name is or will be is absolutely unknown. 
Guesses there are in plenty from Irenaeus' Lateinos 
down to Napoleon. It is useless to add others to the 
conjectural list. When the Beast is actually here his 
name with its enigmatical number will be well known ; 
perhaps not sooner. 

Here, then, are set before us sinister portraits of the 
foes of God and of His people of the last days: the 
Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet, a triad of 
diabolism. Joined with these and their dupes are 
countless multitudes of our poor race who shall have 
deliberately rejected the Gospel of the grace of God, 
and shall have chosen instead the strong delusion and 
the lie, 2 Thess. ii: 9-1 1 ; Rev. xiii: 7, 8, 12, 14, 16. 

The Program "of the End, chap. xiv. 

Chapter xiv contains seven visions which appear to 
record the main events of the closing days of our age. 
Chronological sequence is observed, save in the case 
of the first, viz.: the 144,000 with the Lamb on Mt. 



THE INTERCALATED VISIONS. 



103 



Zion. This scene is anticipative and proleptic, it be- 
longs to the consummation, and even beyond, to the 
Millennium itself. If the Dragon is active in ordering 
his forces for the final struggle, xiv: 1-5, encourages 
us with the assurance that the Lamb is gathering, 
guarding and fitting His own loyal company for the 
part they have in the execution of His plans. The 
number 144,000 no doubt is in a sense ideal, a round 
number, not necessarily literal, and it is made up 
largely, if not exclusively, of the seed of Abraham, 
the new Israel. That these are to be identified with 
the same number in (vii: 1-8) it seems certain. The 
number is the same ; the seal of God in their foreheads 
there corresponds with the name of God in their fore- 
heads here. The change from seal to name may be 
accounted for by the mark in the forehead and hand 
imposed on the followers of the Beast. God will have 
His ransomed ones to bear His own blessed name as 
their distinguishing mark. They have been redeemed 
from earth; they are holy and blameless; they follow 
the Lamb as devoted and obedient servants ; and they 
stand with Him on Mount Zion, the earthly center for 
blessing for the whole race, the point of departure for 
the millennial kingdom and latter-day glory. They 
also are the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb, which 
means that all Israel shall be saved, for these redeemed 
are the pledge and sample thereof; and they are be- 
sides, as firstfruits, " the Divine kernel,'' as Auberlen 
names them, of the new humanity, the seed by which 
the purified earth shall be peopled. 

But must we confine the 144,000 to the redeemed of 



104 



THE REVELATION. 



Israel ? May there not be saved Gentiles among them ? 
There is profound significance in the promise to the 
overcomers of the church of Philadelphia : " Because 
thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will 
keep thee from the hour trial, which shall come upon 
all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." 
Safety in the hour of universal trial is here promised 
these saints ; they are sheltered by the power of the 
Lord. There is no hint that a " rapture " of these 
from the earth takes place; the Greek preposition 
(ek) forbids the notion. The promise appears to sig- 
nify that they shall be in the hour of trial, but they 
shall be kept in safety, and shall come out of it un- 
scathed and untouched. So also the 144,000 of vii : 1-8 ; 
ix: 4; xiv: 1-5. These likewise are safe in the hour 
of trial. In the latter vision the Beast and False 
Prophet, the tribulation, and the suffering are all be- 
hind them; they are forever secure on Mount Zion 
with the Lamb. Besides, the saints in Philadelphia 
have Christ's name and the Father's written upon 
them, as the 144,000 have (Rev. iii. 12). 

Vision of World-wide Preaching, xiv: 6, 7. 

In both the noun and verb forms of this proclama- 
tion there is the idea of glad tidings, good news — the 
Gospel. It is called " everlasting/' both because of 
what it is in itself and what it promises ; it is eternal 
as to the salvation it offers and as to the bliss it 
pledges. The preaching is universal, to all that dwell 
(Grk. sit, as if content with their lot) upon the earth. 



THE INTERCALATED VISIONS. 



Hope this preaching holds out, but it is conditional, 
brief. " Fear God, and give him glory; for the hour 
of his judgment is come." A strange Gospel surely! 
Judgment is impending, it is at hand, but an hour off ! 
Therefore " fear God " — reverence, honor, obey and 
trust Him, for His terrific judgment is about to break 
down upon the guilty. It is the time of the End ; the 
Beast, the False Prophet, the Dragon are all on the 
stage of action now, and the closing scenes are at 
hand. This is God's last, merciful appeal — His final 
call. It connects with our Lord's words in Matt, 
xxiv: 14: "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be 
preached in all the world as a witness to all nations; 
and then shall the end come." 



The Fall of Babylon Announced, xiv: 8. 

This is the first mention of Babylon in the book, but 
the seer will return to the grim topic and give us a 
full-length portrait of it, xvii, xviii. Here Babylon 
is spoken of as a corrupt and corrupting system by 
which the nations of earth are debauched. Her doom 
is announced in very striking terms : " Fallen, fallen is 
Babylon the great, which hath made all the nations to 
drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." 
Babylon's overthrow is one of the first chief events 
succeeding the proclamation that the hour of God's 
judgment is come. 

Solemn Warning against any Partnership with the 
Beast, xiv: 9-12. The most appalling alternatives will 
confront men in the days when the Beast comes to the 



io6 



THE REVELATION. 



climax of his wickedness and despotism. Either men 
must worship him and receive his brand as being his 
property, or they must die, xiii: 15. Either they must 
utterly repudiate him and his worship and his rule, or 
they must suffer the awful torment prepared for the 
lost, xiv: 10, 11. There will be saints who will resist 
him to the death, xiii: 7; xiv: 12. Dreadful as will 
be the judgments of heaven on the apostates of that 
time, they will have no cause to complain, for here 
God in His abundant mercy, when the very end itself 
is in full view, appeals to men and warns them as He 
alone can to flee for their lives from all contact and 
commerce with the Beast. 

Blessedness of Those Who Die from Henceforth, 

xiv: 13. 

The sweetness and depth of this gracious announce- 
ment is, " henceforth," i. e., from this time on. The 
Great Tribulation is now running its sanguinary 
course; the Beast has control of the world itself, and 
is doing his will with none to hinder, so it seems. 
Saints fall beneath his cruel decrees. But they, not 
he, are the conquerors; they die, but they rest from 
their toils, from their anguish and their agony (cf. 
vi: 11 ; 2 Thess. i: 7). The time of suffering is fore- 
shortened (Matt, xxiv: 22). At the utmost it is but 
three years and a half, xiii: 5. But the promise in 
Matt, xxiv: 22 (cf. Mark xiii: 20) seems to limit even 
this period, so that in the case of the saints it will not 
run its full course ; they shall be taken out of it ere the 



THE INTERCALATED VISIONS. 



whole of it has closed. Their resurrection and glori- 
fication are near, hence they are " blessed." 

The Ha vest, xiv: 14-16. 

The Reaper is none other than the Son of Man, 
Jesus Christ our Lord. The " white cloud " He sits 
on denotes it, for it is the symbol of the Divine pres- 
ence. In the Transfiguration a " bright cloud " is 
seen. Again and again it is affirmed He will come 
with Clouds, "in the cloud " (Lu. xxi: 27). He 
wears a Crown, the Victor's Crown (stephanos) , for 
now He is to show Himself the Conqueror of death 
and the grave. The harvest is unquestionably that 
of the gathering of the righteous, living and dead. 
Christ Himself declares that the harvest is " the con- 
summation of the age," Matt, xiii : 39. And here the 
harvest is actually come, the grain is "over-ripe;" it 
must be gathered and garnered, for the number of 
the redeemed is complete, is filled up. The Royal 
Reaper here is the Son of God, but angels are associ- 
ated with Him, as He Himself says, Matt, xiii: 39. 
The same supreme event is thus described by the Lord 
in His Olivet prediction: "And he shall send his an- 
gels with a great sound of a trumpet; and they shall 
gather together his select from the four winds, from 
one end of heaven to the other" (Matt, xxv: 31). 
Still another inspired account of this majestic scene is 
1 Thess. iv: 13-18. Here is described in symbol the 
final and universal gathering of God's people into the 
everlasting Kingdom by resurrection and translation. 



io8 



THE REVELATION. 



It occurs before the wrath of God is poured out, but 
not before the Tribulation, if this chapter does really 
present the order of events at the time of the End, as 
it certainly seems to do. But the harvest may be 
reaped before the hour of the great trial has run its 
course, as already intimated. Hence the comforting 
assurance given the martyrs in ver. 13. 

The Vintage, xiv: 17-20. 

This is the seventh event of the chapter, the last and 
the most terrible of all. It represents the wrath of 
God poured out to the uttermost upon the ungodly, 
the destroyers of the earth (xi: 18). It is the Day 
of Judgment, the day of vengeance, the day of the 
perdition of ungodly men. The figure of the vintage 
for this awful day of wrath is common to the prophets. 
Isaiah uses it of the avenging Messiah, " I have trod- 
den the winepress alone; I will tread them in mine 
anger, and trample them in my fury ; their blood shall 
be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all 
my raiment" (Isa. lxiii: 1-4). Joel in like manner, 
"Come, tread ye: for the winepress is full, the fats 
overflow" (Joel, iii: 11, 12, 14; Rev. xix: 15); "and 
he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the 
wrath of Almighty God." It is the time of ven- 
geance untempered with any mercy, wrath unmixed 
with any compassion, for long He has been still and 
refrained Himself, but now He will destroy and de- 
vour at once, Isa. xlii: 13, 14. Parallel with this 
judgment scene is the tremendous revelation of chap. 



THE INTERCALATED VISIONS. 



xix: 11-21. The event is the same in both places. 
The vintage here is identical with the Advent there, 
and with the hurling of the Beast and the False 
Prophet alive into the Lake of Fire, and with the 
slaughter of their armies. 

No saints of God will be found in the winepress 
judgment. They are delivered from " the wrath to 
come " (i Thess. i: 10) : "And to you who are trou- 
bled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be re- 
vealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flam- 
ing fire taking vengeance on them that know not 
God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus 
Christ," 2 Thess. i: 7, 8. The prophets attest, how- 
ever, that in those days of the divine judgments Is- 
rael as the chosen people will be delivered and blessed 
and be made a blessing, Joel iii: 17-21; Zech. xiv: 
8-21. But the saints who have gone through the 
Tribulation will be gathered in the blessed Harvest- 
home safe from the devouring wrath and the con- 
suming fire of God's vengeance. 

With these closing scenes of our age as depicted in 
cur chapter are associated the Vials of Chap. xvi. 
These are described as containing the seven last 
plagues, i. e., the divine judgments which are consum- 
mated in the End-time, " for in them is finished the 
wrath of God." The Vials cover the last three years 
and a half of the End, and they terminate with the 
vintage. 



CHAPTER XL 



The Seven Last Plagues, xv, xvi. 

Before describing the pouring out of the Vials the 
Seer narrates a vision of the victors at the sea of 
glass, xv : 2-4. The sea is of glass, not of water; it 
is solid; for upon (epi) it the victorious band stands. 
The figure of the glassy sea seems to be taken from 
the "molten sea " of Solomon's Temple (1 K. vii: 23), 
though with changes. " The molten sea " was for 
the purification of the hands and the feet of the 
priests; but this glassy sea is immaculate and unde- 
filable. Those who stand upon it likewise are holy 
and pure, they need no washing, they have been for- 
ever cleansed from all defilement. They have come 
to this exalted position after trial and suffering. 
They have gotten victory over the Beast and over his 
image and over his name. Obviously they have been 
through the Great Tribulation. But now the scene 
of conflict is past. They stand, like Israel of old, on 
the triumphant side of the Red Sea, and they lift up 
their voices in exultant song. Their song is that of 
Moses the servant of God and of the Lamb. This fact 
intimates, perhaps, that they are of Jewish origin. 
If so, they belong to the martyred remnant referred 
to in xii: 11, 17. But we are not to exclude Gentile 
martyrs from this company on the glassy sea; per- 
haps we should not err greatly if we included the in- 

110 



THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES. in 

numerable host of vii: 9-17 among them. They exalt 
God's marvellous works in their song-works of right- 
eous judgment which He has poured upon the wicked, 
for they have been witnesses of their sins and crimes. 
They celebrate Him as " King of the ages " (" King 
of saints" of A. V. is no doubt wrong). 

The vision is beyond question prospective, proleptic. 
It relates to the time when the Tribulation is past, the 
judgments have fallen, and God's justice has at length 
been fully vindicated. 

The Vials (xvi) are in reality bowls, as the Revisors 
translate; they are like the cups of the Temple, broad 
and deep, used for pouring out the drink-offering. 
The Vials, of course, are figures of speech ; they rep- 
resent the concentrated, tremendous judgments which 
God will visit upon the ungodly of the End-time. 
Their action is amazingly swift and continuous. 
There seems to be no pause between them. 

The Seven Plagues have affinity with the judg- 
ments inflicted on Egypt (Ex. vii: 20, 21; viii: 5, 6; 
ix: 15-17, etc.), and particularly with the first four 
Trumpets (viii: 7-12). God scourges the wicked 
with nature's forces as once He did the Egyptians, 
and as He often chastised Israel by like means. But 
when these Plagues are poured out the whole world 
will feel the fearful visitation. Earth, air, water and 
sun — man's beneficent servants — will then become in- 
struments of torture and of death, and the spirits of 
the elements will justify God in His righteous deal- 
ings with the ungodly. 

The Plagues have features peculiar to themselves. 



!II2 



THE REVELATION. 



The fourth is entirely new; the others are more in- 
tense and violent in their action than the Trumpets. 
The fifth deals directly with the Beast's seat of power; 
judicial blindness smites his kingdom; madness and 
defiance rule. But while men gnaw their tongues for 
pain and writhe in agony amid dreadful suffering, 
they grow more hardened and blaspheme their al- 
mighty Judge. 

The sixth Vial is poured out on Euphrates. The 
sixth Trumpet also deals with the same river; but it 
sets loose the four angels bound there, who then slay 
the third part of men (ix: 15). Here the river is 
dried up so as to open the way for the coming of the 
kings from the sunrising. The Euphrates was the 
boundary and eastern limit of the old Roman Em- 
pire. In the new and satanic empire which shall 
arise every barrier is gone, and armies from the far 
East may freely pass to the place of the final struggle. 
The vast hordes of Asia will be involved in the deci- 
sive and overwhelming battle of the great day of God 
the Almighty, no less than those of other continents. 

A marvellous thing happens in connection with the 
action of this Vial, three frog-like spirits issue from 
the mouth of the Dragon, of the Beast, and of the 
False Prophet. They are demons, vile and loath- 
some, yet possessed with immense power. They rep- 
resent the malign influence which this devilish triad 
will exert over the world; it is by them that earth's 
armies will be organized and led into the field for the 
great battle with God. It is plainly said they are 
demons. By their persuasiveness of speech, by the 



THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES. 



113 



signs and wonders they will work, and by their tire- 
less energy, they will lead astray the unbelieving 
world, and countless hosts will march to Har-Magedon 
to their awful doom. " Kings of the whole world " 
shows how complete the success of these frog-like 
demons will be. The earth will then be in revolt 
against God. The events of the End-time will be 
world-wide. A prophetic word spoken by the Lord 
Jesus Himself discloses how universal the delusions 
of men will be in that day : " For there shall arise false 
Christs and false prophets, and shall show signs and 
wonders, that they may lead astray, if possible, the 
elect" (Mark xiii: 22). 

The seventh angel poured out his Vial upon the air, 
and a great Voice from the Throne proclaimed, " It 
is done." The judgments are exhausted, the wrath is 
finished. 

Babylon comes into remembrance before God. In 
chap, xiv: 8 the fall of Babylon is noted as the third 
event in the series of the time of the End. Here its 
judgment seems to be placed under the seventh Vial. 
There is no real discrepancy. In chap, xvi: 17-21 
the closing scenes are summed up together, and tem- 
poral sequence is not strictly observed. The great 
city, and the cities of the nations, and islands, and 
mountains, and Babylon, all share in the terrific judg- 
ments. Besides, chaps, xvii and xviii make it evi- 
dent that the corrupt ecclesiastical system (" The 
Harlot ") and " Babylon " symbolize both a religious 
apostasy and a city, so that it is possible that some 

brief time may elapse between the overthrow of the 
8 



H4 



THE REVELATION. 



ofre and of the other: the system may fall first, the 
city next in the final order of the events. A precious 
word in parenthesis is given us, xvi: 15: (" Behold, 
I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and 
keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see 
his shame.") It is for His saints. The last blows 
are about to fall, but He is speedily coming now, so 
watch ! 

Thus we come to the close of the three great sep- 
tinaries, Seals, Trumpets and Vials. A kind of pro- 
gression is marked by them. The opening of the 
Seals reveals the events about to happen. The blasts 
of the Trumpets announce the events as forthcoming. 
The outpouring of the Vials execute them, and so 
close the whole, God's righteous wrath being now 
finished. 

Once more the statement must be made that these 
Visions are contemporaneous, not successive, with 
long stretches of time lying between them, as the his- 
torical interpreters affirm. All three end at the same 
supreme event, the Consummation, although they do 
not start at the same point. The first four Seals ap- 
pear to be prior to the seven years of Daniel's last 
great Week, within which so mighty events are 
crowded. These Seals make ready the way for those 
momentous years. The remaining three Seals be- 
long to that Week in both its halves. 

The Trumpets sound during the whole of the Week, 
the Woe Trumpets no doubt belong to the second half. 

The Vials pertain to the second half, the final three 
years and a half, the time when the Beast is doing his 



THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES. 



worst, when the Great Tribulation is running its awful 
course, and wickedness and crime are at the flood. 
These Bowls are filled full with the wrath of God, 
and in them the wrath is finished, xv: I, 7. Judg- 
ment has completed its stern work with the outpour- 
ing of the Vials- 



CHAPTER XII. 



Interposed Explanatory Visions, chaps, xvii-xix : 

i-io. 

The visions recorded in this great section of the 
book are interposed between the Vials (xvi) and the 
Advent of Christ, xix: n. They are designed to 
furnish us with more definite and comprehensive in- 
formation touching the character and the doom of 
Babylon the Great. Twice already has this evil sys- 
tem named Babylon been mentioned, xiv: 8; xvi: 19; 
but no explanation is there given of it. But now once 
more the Seer, as is his wont, goes back to open a 
new episode in his marvellous revelations, and he 
does so that he may explain what Babylon is, what its 
evil influence has been, and what its fate shall be. 
This is the theme of these chapters — Babylon the 
Great, the Harlot, the Mother of Abominations. Two 
gigantic forms of evil are made very prominent in 
the Apocalypse : the one is the revolt of the civil power 
against God; the other is ecclesiastical apostasy. The 
first is prefigured by the Beast; the second by the 
lewd Woman, the Harlot. This latter we are now to 
study. 

1. Note the prominence of Babylon in the book, 
xiv: 8; xvi: 19; xvii, xviii; xix: 1-3. One chapter 
is devoted to the Beast, with reference to him in some 
others; here two whole chapters are occupied with 

116 



INTERPOSE EXPLANATORY VISIONS. 117 



Babylon and the Beast, while there are references to 
it in three others. It is significant that it is one of 
the angels of the seven vials that shows John the 
judgment of the Harlot. As these spirits are the ex- 
ecutors of God's wrath on the Beast, so will they be 
in the destruction of Babylon. 

2. Descriptive names of Babylon. It is called a 
harlot, ver. 1. The meaning of the symbol is plain. 
Scripture frequently charges Israel with the sin of 
adultery, of playing the harlot (Ezek. xvi; Hos. i, 
etc.). A city also is declared to be guilty of the like 
sin, e. g., Jerusalem (Ezek. xvi: 2, 48). By this is 
meant that a people or city in relation with God who 
becomes unfaithful to Him, who breaks covenant 
with Him, who seeks after other gods, and who serves 
idols, is charged with the crime of spiritual adultery. 
Such a body is like a wife who proves disloyal to her 
husband and her vows, and gives her love to other 
men. It is one of the strongest figures the Bible uses 
to express God's abhorrence and reprobation of un- 
faithfulness to Him. The epithet, harlot, describes an 
apostate religious system or community. But it is 
noteworthy that while Israel become idolatrous is 
called adulteress because she is Jehovah's wife, Baby- 
lon is a harlot charged with fornication. Not once in 
these chapters is Babylon called adulteress, nor her 
sin adultery, but uniformly she is the harlot and her 
sin fornication. Obviously this Woman is unlike Is- 
rael in her relation with God, and must not be con- 
founded with that people. She is not a wife, she 
may be " espoused." 



n8 



THE REVELATION. 



Moreover, a most extraordinary name was seen 
inscribed on her forehead: " Mystery, Babylon the 
great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations 
of the earth," ver. 5. Whether the term " mystery " 
is to be regarded as a part of the inscription or an 
explanation of the content of the inscription is not 
easy to determine. Without attempting to settle 
which it is, let it suffice now to say that the word cer- 
tainly designates the essential nature of the repulsive 
object on which the prophet is gazing. The fearful 
picture represents Babylon, a mysterious system, se- 
cret, fascinating and seductive in its amazing power 
and influence. " Mystery " is closely akin to Paul's 
"mystery of iniquity " (2 Thess. ii: 7); it stands in 
sharpest antithesis with " the mystery of godliness " 
(1 Tim. iii: 16). Wordsworth defines the term as 
" a secret spell bearing the semblance of sanctity.'' 

The Scarlet Woman is also Babylon the Great. 
Old Babylon on the Euphrates was idolatrous, intol- 
erant, proud, despotic. This mystic Babylon is idol- 
atrous and fosters idolatry. She is the prolific 
mother of abominations. She is both corrupt and 
corrupting, " the Mother of Harlots." The virus of 
the evil system is contagious, infectious, it spreads 
over the earth. She is a fierce persecutor, is seen to 
be drunken with the blood of the saints whom she has 
ruthlessly slaughtered. Old Babylon was likewise in- 
tolerant and a persecutor. One instance may suffice 
as proof. Nebuchadnezzar, the great king of Baby- 
lon, made proclamation that " all people, nations and 
languages " should prostrate themselves before the 



INTERPOSED EXPLANATORY VISIONS. 119 



golden image which he had set up. The edict was 
enforced by the savage threat that all who refused 
should be cast into a burning fiery furnace. Three 
Hebrews refused to worship the royal idol, and were 
cast into the furnace. The new mystic Babylon ex- 
hibits the like persecuting spirit, and kills all who re- 
fuse to obey her idolatrous mandates. The names 
inscribed on her forehead witness to her character. 
Israel's high priest bore a golden plate on his fore- 
head with the ineffable name inscribed on it : " Holi- 
ness to the Lord/' The Scarlet Woman bears on 
hers a cluster of names that brand her as most impure, 
most loathsome. She is both a temptress and be- 
trayer of peoples and nations, xvii: 2, 4; xviii: 3; 
xix : 2. She intoxicates the world with the wine of 
the fury of her seductions, she drugs them with her 
deadly love-potions. She is presented to us as the 
vilest of all vile systems. 

3. The place and seat that this symbolic Woman oc- 
cupies are very noteworthy. She sits upon many 
waters, xvii: 1. The waters are explained to be 
" peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues/' 
The figure denotes the widespread influence which the 
system exerts, and the vastness of its sway over man- 
kind. She is described as a great City, xvii: 18; 
xviii : 10. Babylon the Harlot, the corrupter of earth, 
has its seat in a city with seven hills. Furthermore, 
she has her seat upon the Beast, him she rules as her 
obedient servant. Her seat gives her a proud pre- 
eminence and insures her victorious sway. The 
color of the Beast is scarlet, as is the clothing of the 



120 



THE REVELATION. 



Woman, indicative of the blood guiltiness and perse- 
cutions which stain them both. The crimson-colored 
Beast is the same as that seen rising from the sea 
(xiii: i), the blasphemous and cruel World-power. 
The hateful picture here given us indicates the close 
association the Harlot has with the godless State and 
her control of it. Her attire is very notable for its 
brilliancy and its richness; scarlet, purple, precious 
stones and rare gems adorn her. Her robes are im- 
perial, her jewels queenly. In dress and in attitude 
her meritricious character is displayed : " Mystery, 
Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and of the 
abominations of the earth." 

Such is the hideous portrait presented to us by the 
pen of inspiration of a corrupt and corrupting system 
that once had fellowship with God and labored faith- 
fully to further His cause among men. Now alas! 
it has become " the habitation of demons, and the hold 
of every unclean spirit, and the hold of every unclean 
and hateful bird" (xviii: 2). John writes: "And 
when I saw her, I wondered with a great wonder." 
It is not surprising. Who does not feel profound 
grief, a sense of sorrow and of awe, when looking 
upon the dreadful spectacle of a fallen, impure or- 
ganization which once was pure and true, but which 
now has become unfaithful and vile? 

Who or what is this Woman with her twin name of 
Harlot and Babylon? What does the repulsive sym- 
bol mean? Are the predictions about her sufficiently 
explicit to enable us to identify her? Undoubtedly 
they are. More than once in the course of these notes 



INTERPOSED EXPLANATORY VISIONS. 121 



it has been intimated that the Harlot-Babylon is an 
apostate religious system. But what system is meant ? 

1. The Woman is sharply distinguished from the 
Beast. Beyond all denial, if the Beast be the World- 
power, as we have all along set forth, the Woman 
cannot be. She is in most intimate relations with 
him, but from him she is distinct. She rides him, 
therefore she is not the same as he. Before this fact 
the historical interpretation of the Apocalypse com- 
pletely breaks down. That view makes the Beast and 
the Woman the same thing — a view negatived here. 

2. The Woman cannot be the star-crowned, sun- 
clothed Woman of chap, xii: 1, 2. It is Israel, the 
Messianic nation, that is there symbolized, not at all 
the Christian Church. Many interpreters, however, 
insist that the Woman of chap, xii and the Harlot of 
chap, xvii are one and the same; that she, holy and 
true at first, became at length degenerate and fell 
from her lofty estate and became at last the unclean 
temptress of nations and the assassin of the saints. 
The only real argument for the identification of the 
two Women we have seen is, both are found in the 
" Wilderness.'' But the sun-clothed Woman is there 
sheltered from the wrath of the Great Red Dragon, 
and is nourished of God there for three and a half 
years, the period of the great tribulation. Now, it 
seems to us incredible and impossible that she should 
become the vile and guilty Harlot of the later vision 
in so short a time. The Woman of xvii is not the 
Woman of chap, xii become apostate. 

3. The Harlot is Christendom estranged from God 



122 



THE REVELATION. 



and become thoroughly secularized and degenerate. 
This is our most solemn conviction. Romanism, we 
believe, is the chief subject of this frightful prophecy. 
But the Greek Catholic organziation, mainly as ex- 
isting in Russia and Eastern Europe, as also worldly 
and unfaithful Protestantism are involved and in- 
cluded therein. We begin with the identification of 
Romanism with this symbol. It is official and hier- 
archical Romanism we are dealing with, not the body 
of adherents to that system who are generally both 
ignorant and superstitious. The historical reality and 
the prophetic portrait here drawn are too much alike, 
match too exactly, to mistake the meaning. 

Papal Rome claims to be a Mother, calls herself 
the " mother of all churches, " the mistress and teacher 
of all Christians. The pope asserts his supremacy 
over all of them, and indeed over all nations as well. 
In 1825 Leo XII struck a medal bearing on the one 
side his own image, and on the other that of the 
church of Rome symbolized as a Woman, holding in 
her left hand a cross, and in her right a Cup, with the 
legend, " Sedet super universum," " The whole world 
is her seat" (Hyslop, Two Babylons). She would 
dominate all mankind, xvii: 15. 

The Woman has her seat in a city of seven hills, 
xvii: 9, 18. For more than a thousand years the 
Papacy and Rome the City have been regarded prac- 
tically as one and the same. Rome is the Papacy to 
this day. No other is called "the city of seven hills 
no other has ever ruled over the earth as Rome has. 
Pagan Rome governed the world for centuries; papal 



INTERPOSED EXPLANATORY VISIONS 123 



Rome has for ages held sway in our planet as no other 
city has. It is Rome where the Woman " sitteth." 
The city and the system coalesce, they are converti- 
ble terms. 

The name inscribed on the Harlot's forehead points 
unmistakably to an apostate religious system, and pre- 
eminently to Romanism. Everything in the worship 
of that enormous organization is shrouded in mys- 
tery, is designed to impress men with its hidden, se- 
cret and supernatural authority and power. Its per- 
sistent use of a dead language, its celebration of the 
Mass, its confessional and priestly absolution, its 
claims to fix the destinies of men even in the unseen 
world, its mystic ceremonies and rites, the dress of its 
officiating priests and their postures and actions when 
observing " the mysteries " of the cult-all combine to 
invest the system with an impressiveness and mysti- 
cism nowhere else found save in some of the ancient 
pagan rites. The Greek Church is characterized by 
the like heathen features, though somewhat less fla- 
grant. 

The Harlot's connection with the World-power — 
riding upon it — is realized in the universal domination 
which the Papacy claims and asserts. The Pope ar- 
rogates for the Roman See supremacy over peoples 
and states and rulers. Not always has he been able 
to enforce the proud claim, but when he can he does 
to the fullest extent. " The pope can depose from 
their offices magistrates and princes, and release sub- 
jects from their oath of allegiance. " " The pope is 
king of kings, ruler of rulers, the prince of bishops, 



124 



THE REVELATION. 



the judge of all men" (Bellarmino). "The imperial 
majesty is subjected to the pope as the Vicar of Christ 
Jesus, and kings ought to lay down their crowns be- 
fore him. The Pontiff is monarch, emperor, king and 
bishop of the whole earth " (Decisioni della Rota Ro- 
mana). These quotations are taken from Roman 
Catholic authorities; they could be multiplied indefi- 
nitely. To this day the Roman See exalts its absolute 
supremacy over all nations, sovereigns and peoples. 
It is not union with the State that is asserted, but do- 
minion over the State. Subjection to the civil author- 
ity is the position of those ecclesiastical bodies named 
" State Churches/' whether Protestant or Greek Cath- 
olic. Rome exalts her authority over all States and 
Churches alike. She rides, or seeks to ride upon the 
World-power, to subject to herself all authority and 
all rule. 

The Scarlet Woman is intolerant, persecuting: she 
is seen to be drunken with the blood of the saints. 
Here, again, the parallelism between the symbol and 
the apostate religious system is startlingly close. 
Count if you can the victims of Rome's bloody work 
in the world, her murderous cruelties. It is even 
doubted whether pagan Rome ever slew as many hu- 
man beings as has Papal Rome. Nor is Rome the only 
guilty one in this respect. The Greek Catholic and 
some Protestant bodies likewise have stained their 
hands in the blood of some of the noblest and purest 
of God's children. Not without a dreadful meaning 
is this Harlot arrayed in scarlet and crimson: bloody- 
minded she is, and blood-stained also. 



INTERPOSED EXPLANATORY VISIONS. 125 



The Harlot is the " mother of abominations," i. e., 
idolatrous. Images, shrines, relics, human beings 
("the saints") and angels are objects of devotion in 
all apostate Christendom. The Virgin Mary with 
vast multitudes holds a higher place of veneration 
than did ever Minerva in Greece, or Ceres in Rome, 
or Diana in Ephesus. Her worship exceeds that even 
of the Son of God Himself. Nothing will sooner 
arouse the fanatical rage of her devotees than the 
teaching that Mary, blessed as she was in being chosen 
to give birth to the Son of Man, has no part in our 
salvation, can do nothing to deliver us from sin and 
reconcile us with God. Ever since Pius IX officially 
proclaimed the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, 
Mary has been lifted into a place of eminence and 
authority never before held by her. Add to this the 
Dogma of infallibility with which the Pope was 
crowned in 1870 by the Vatican Council, and one will 
perceive to what heights of arrogance and blasphemy 
this Roman system is now exalted. 

But departure from divine truth, false teaching, 
unwarranted claims, arrogant assumptions, will wor- 
ship and idolatry are not to be charged against papal 
Rome exclusively. Babylon is " the mother of har- 
lots." She has daughters like herself. The Greek 
Catholic church, the Coptic, and others have as widely 
departed from the simplicity of the Gospel as has 
Rome. Who would venture to deny that there are 
signs of a falling away in Protestantism? A scarcely 
disguised infidelity in the great Schools of Germany; 
advanced ritualism and Higher Criticism of a most 



126 



THE REVELATION. 



pronounced type advocated in the Colleges and Uni- 
versities of Great Britain; scientific skepticism and 
rationalism taught in the Universities of our own 
country ; " an open and organized movement toward 
Rome, numbering thousands of clerical and lay ad- 
herents;" in the Church of England; doctrines held 
and taught in Evangelical Churches that " thirty years 
ago would have ranked a man as an infidel;" denial 
of the supernatural, ridicule of miracles, denial of the 
inspiration, integrity, and authority of the Scriptures; 
hostility toward the divine claims of the Lord Jesus 
Christ and His Gospel; denial of the Deity of Jesus 
Christ, the persistent effort on the part of many to 
sink Him to a level with men, born into the world as 
other men are and having a human father and mother 
as other men ; denial of His resurrection from the dead 
and His Mediatorial action in heaven as a glorified 
Man, and His Coming to judge the quick and the 
dead; Paul charged with being the author of Chris- 
tianity and not Christ — a Christianity which Christ did 
not teach; a salvation now preached that is to be the 
result and fruit of " works," culture, education, 
" character-building," a reconstruction of society in 
the Socialistic conception, the importance of the indi- 
vidual being eliminated — all this and much more than 
this betokens the working of " the mystery of lawless- 
ness" in the heart of Christendom, the presence and the 
corrupting influence of the Harlot's " daughters " in 
the " religious world." The Laodicean age, with its 
latitudinarianism, its proud boastings, and yet its spir- 



INTERPOSED EXPLANATORY VISIONS. 127 



itual bankruptcy ignored, has set in, though not yet 
full-grown. Worse things are fast approaching. 

No influence for evil is so great, none so far-reaching 
in its disastrous effects, as an apostate religious sys- 
tem. There is no sphere it does not invade, none 
that it does not befoul. The State, the family, edu- 
cation, literature, the press — everything, in short, of 
life and of civilization it touches and defiles. Chapter 
xviii of Rev. discloses the vast results on mankind of 
Babylon's overthrow. Kings, merchants, seamen, 
wail over Babylon's fall, and recognize with profound- 
est grief that all commerce, all the immense business 
of the world, had hitherto been bound up with the 
Babylonian system, and now by the just judgment 
of God it has all crumbled into desolation and ruin. 
We believe that the predictions recorded in chap xviii 
involve a far wider field of influence than a single city; 
they point to the world of commerce, of trade — in 
short, to the complex, interdependent secular relations 
of modern civilization. Christendom does control the 
wealth and the commerce of the civilized nations, nay, 
of the heathen nations also. Babylon, the Harlot, 
means more than a single city, though it may have its 
chief place of power there. It is Rome, but likewise 
all that Rome stands for, all its worldwide influences. 
As a city Rome never was a great commercial center, 
nor is it ever likely to be anything like what Tyre or 
Alexandria were, what London and New York now 
are. But apostate Christendom will one day, if not 
now, embrace the world and poison all its centers and 
all its life. With Babylon's fall the complicated, rich, 
spectacular and cultivated civilization of earth, will be 



128 



THE REVELATION, 



utterly demolished, for in its essence and its spirit it 
will be the foe of God, the corrupter of the truth of 
God, and the righthand of the Antichrist. No won- 
der all heaven rejoices when the enormous thing, 
built up with so tremendous efforts, with such expen- 
diture of intellectual energy, and by such unjust and 
evil methods, dies at length beneath the stroke of 
outraged justice! 

The destruction of the Harlot Babylon will be by the 
Beast and his ten-horn confederates, xvii: 16. 
When the Beast has served himself of Babylon, wea- 
ried at length by its arrogance and its claims, he will 
turn with fury upon it, tear it to pieces, eat its flesh, 
devour all its wealth and its power, and burn it w T ith 
fire. Two gigantic forms of full-grown Wickedness 
is to distinguish the time of the End. The one is, 
the revolt and hostility of federated Government, the 
other an apostate religious system. The first is not 
yet manifested ; the second, in its incipient stage, is 
here. 

We may summarize the intercalated Visions of 
chaps, xvii, xviii, xix: i-io thus: 

1. Five world-kingdoms had flourished and fallen 
when John wrote. 

2. The sixth Kingdom, the Roman Empire, was 
then existing, but was to fall. 

3. A seventh Kingdom shall arise and rule the 
earth. Its form is to be that of a Confederation of 
ten kingdoms, each ruled by its own sovereign, with 
unity centering in its great Head, the Antichrist. 



INTERPOSED EXPLANATORY VISIONS. 129 



4. The Harlot Babylon the symbol of an apostate 
religious system. 

5. Both the Beast and Babylon, as predicted in the 
Apocalypse, belong to the time of the end, and are 
prefigured as at their worst, most godless and most 
blasphemous. 

6. Babylon is destroyed by the Beast and his ten 
kings. 

7. The Beast and his False Prophet are destroyed 
by the Lord Jesus Christ. 



9 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Advent of the Heavenly Conqueror, the Lord 
Jesus Christ, xix: n; xx: 6. 

I. This great section is the climax and the culmina- 
tion of all the visions and predictions of the book. The 
Consummation so often noted in former chapters; 
the reiterated announcements of Christ's Coming in 
the seventh Seal, in the seventh Trumpet, in the sev- 
enth Vial, and elsewhere, now at last are become a 
reality in His personal return to our earth. The key- 
note has been, " Behold, He cometh." But now the 
diapason closes full on His Presence, " He is come." 
" I saw heaven opened." In chap, iv : I "a door is 
opened in heaven." Twice we are told the Temple 
in heaven was "opened" (xi: 19; xv: 5). But xix: 
11 is on a wider scale; the heavens themselves open 
to the descending Son of God. He now comes, not 
as the Lamb, nor as the Bridegroom, but as the Lion 
of the tribe of Judah, the almighty Conqueror. He 
is followed by a dazzling retinue, the armies of hea- 
ven, His mighty angels. The scene is one of trans- 
cendant majesty. He is identified by His royal titles. 
He is "faithful and true" (i: 5; iii: 7, 14): "The 
Word of God " (Jno. i. 1) : " King of kings " (xvii: 
14). His personal appearance indicates who He is: 
" His eyes are a flame of fire" (i: 14; ii: 18) ; He is 
crowned with " many diadems," He is a King and 

130 



ADVENT OF JESUS CHRIST. 131 

more than a king, He is above all kings and sovereigns ; 
He is the Lord of heaven and earth : " His garment 
is sprinkled with blood " (Isa. lxiii: 2, 3) : from His 
mouth issues a sharp sword (i: 16; ii: 12, 16; cf. 2 
Thess. ii: 8; Isa. xi: 4). He is mounted on " a white 
horse/' emblem of victory. This metaphor must not 
be confounded with the white-horse rider of vi: 2. 
That is a human warrior, this is the heavenly King; 
that is an ambitious and despotic military chieftain; 
this Rider judges and makes war " in righteousness/' 
The heavenly armies that follow Him are the angelic 
hosts, Mar. viii: 38; 1 Thess. iii: 14; 2 Thess. i: 7-10; 
Jude 14; Zech. xiv: 5; Dan. vii: 10. The most mo- 
mentous events ensue upon His Advent. The Beast, 
the False Prophet, the kings of earth and their armies 
are gathered to fight against the heavenly King, xix: 
19. Their place of assembly is Har-Magedon, a 
noted battlefield (xvi: 16). Not a blow is struck by 
the heavenly hosts ; the appearing of Christ, the great 
God and our Saviour, suffices to overwhelm all His 
foes, 2 Thess. ii: 8. The doom of the Beast and his 
guilty accomplice, the False Prophet, is most appall- 
ing. They were arrested, and " they twain were cast 
alive into the lake of fire that burnetii with brim- 
stone," ver. 20. Two men were taken to glory with- 
out passing through the gates of death, Enoch and 
Elijah. Two men will be flung alive into the Lake 
of Fire, Antichrist and his prime minister, The False 
Prophet. The carnage of the Beast's army is fright- 
fully great, vers. 17, 18, 21; cf. xiv: 20. The birds 
of the sky are bidden to this " great supper of God," 



^32 



THE REVELATION. 



and they " were filled with their flesh," cf . Ezek. , 
xxxix: 17-20. Ezekiel predicts that it will require 
seven months to bury the slain, ver. 12, of that day of 
God's wrath. 

This is the awful Vintage of xiv: 19, 20; cf. xix: 
15 — where a horseman riding over the battle-field 
finds the blood of the slain bridle-deep for 1,600 fur- 
longs! The time is, The Day of the Lord: when the 
Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his 
mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on 
them that know not God (2 Thess. i: 7-10). It is the 
time when the proud World-power in its last and dia- 
bolical confederation is judged and destroyed, when 
the kingdom of the world becomes the Kingdom of 
our Lord and of his Christ : when " the kingdom, and 
dominion, and greatness of the kingdom under the 
whole heaven is given to the Son of Man and to the 
people of the saints of the Most High (Dan. vii: 14, 
27). It is the End of our Age, the time fully come 
for the redemption of the purchased possession. 

2. Satan Bound, xx: 1-3. The language of these 
verses, of course, is symbolical ; but back of the sym- 
bols is a glorious reality. We have here, first, the clear 
recognition of the Devil's personality. He is no 
myth, nor a personification of the world's evil, nor of 
the principle of sin; he is a strong, fierce spirit, the 
enemy alike of God and of our race and its mur- 
derer (Jno. viii: 44). The names John here gives him 
denote that he is a person with thought, will, charac- 
ter and disposition. More than twenty distinct titles 
and names are given him in the New Testament, 



ADVENT OF JESUS CHRIST. 



every one of which expresses the idea of individuality 
and conscious being. He is as certainly an active, liv- 
ing spirit as is the angel Gabriel or the arch-angel 
Michael. 

Secondly, for ages he has been unrestrained, "walk- 
ing up and down in the earth," deceiving, tempting, 
leading captive and ruining as he listed, save as he was 
limited by the will of God. But, thirdly, he is now 
arrested and chained securely for a thousand years. 
The energy of the Seer's language is remarkable. 
Satan is " seized," next " chained ;" then " cast into 
the abyss," after that " shut up," and finally " sealed." 
It is imprisonment with close confinement! It lasts 
for a thousand years. In chap, ix: i, 2, the "pit of 
the abyss " is opened, and out of its yawning mouth 
issue the swarms of locusts. In xi: 7, xvii: 8 the 
Beast ascends from the abyss. Thrice is this unde- 
scribed Pit opened. But when the Dragon, the Old 
Serpent which is the Devil, and Satan, is hurled into 
it, securely bound with the angePs great chain, and 
over him in that dismal prison the huge cover shuts 
down, fast locked and sealed, opened no more will it 
be till the thousand years are finished. This will be 
earth's Jubilee, the longed-for Millennium. Not 
until Satan is seized, chained and locked up will there 
be, can there be, the blessed Millennium. Satan loose 
and a Millennium of peace and happiness are incom- 
patible. 

3. The First Resurrection, xx: 4-6. 
"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and 
judgment was given unto them: and (I saw) the souls 



134 



THE REVELATION. 



of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of 
Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as wor- 
shipped not the beast, neither his image, and received 
not the mark upon their forehead and upon their 
hand : and they lived and reigned with Christ a thou- 
sand years." 

This is a much controverted portion of the Revela- 
tion; it is a sort of exegetical battle-field between 
those who are called respectively Pre-millennialists and 
Post-millennialists. Into the controversy there is no 
intention to enter, but what appears to us to be Its 
meaning must be set down. We have the profound 
conviction that a bodily resurrection is certainly af- 
firmed by it. Three parties, we believe, are here dis- 
tinguished from each other by the inspired prophet: 
I, The throned assessors to whom judgment is given, 
who represent all the redeemed; 2, martyrs who had 
laid down their lives for their testimony to Jesus and 
to the word of God ; 3, such as had refused to worship 
the Beast, or his image, or to receive his mark. The 
distinction between these classes is not one of time, 
for they are all alike sharers in the blessedness of the 
First Resurrection ; nor of character, for alike they are 
saints of God, redeemed by the blood of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. Rather, the distinction is one of expe- 
rience, of what had been endured and suffered by them 
respectively. 

John first mentions those who sit on thrones, to 
whom judgment is given : " I saw thrones, and they 
sat upon them. ,, The plural they is indefinite, it may 
denote any number. But other Scripture, it is be- 



ADVENT OF JESDS CHRIST. 



lieved, sheds light on the question who these are. 
Christ Himself is certainly one here on His judgment- 
throne. With Him certainly are the Apostles. "And 
Jesus said unto them " (to Peter and the rest), 
" Verily I say unto you, that ye who have followed 
me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit 
on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve 
thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel " (Matt, 
xix: 28). The " regeneration," or renewal, here 
spoken of begins with the Advent of Christ and with 
the resurrection and glorification of the saints, as 
Paul teaches—" Creation itself shall be delivered from 
the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory 
of the children of God." It awaits the redemption of 
our body, Rom. viii: 19-23. In that glorious age the 
Apostles will be Christ's assessors in judging men. 
But not these alone; all Christians are to be there 
present and to share in judging. " Know ye not that 
the saints shall judge the world ?" " Know ye not 
that we shall judge angels?" 1 Cor. vi: 2, 3. Here 
the inspired assertion is, that the saints of God shall 
judge both the world and angels. Of course, their 
judgment will be in strict unison with that of Christ 
Himself; but however subordinate to His it may be, 
these saved men and women shall participate with the 
Apostles in judgment. Their judicial action is re- 
markable as to extent; it includes the wicked of the 
world and angels. Dan. vii: 21, 22 relates to the 
same procedure — " Until the ancient of days came, 
and judgment was given to the saints of the Most 
High : and the time came that the saints possessed the 



136 



THE REVELATION. 



kingdom." The figure here as in the other cases cited 
is of an assize. Judgment is had, the saints are vindi- 
cated, and they come into possession of the kingdom 
promised. Here are included all O. T. believers. 

In all these instances the time of the judicial proced- 
ure is the same ; it is at the coming of the Lord in great 
glory and power. In union with Christ the saints 
as a body, the whole company of the redeemed, as we 
think, share with Him in judging the world and an- 
gels. The sentence, " I saw thrones and they sat 
upon them, and judgment was given unto them," is 
interpreted by the Lord Jesus, by Paul, and by Daniel, 
to mean the entire body of the saints, now raised up 
and glorified with Christ. 

A distinct class of saints among the enthroned is 
brought to view; "and (I saw) the souls of them 
that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, 
and for the word of God." Martyrs of Christ are 
these, believers who lay down their lives for His 
name and His word. " Souls " may include those 
"souls" seen under the altar (vi: 9), and who cried 
to God for vindication, and who were bidden rest 
and wait till their brethren and fellow-servants should 
be killed as they had been. It was in the disembodied 
state they were seen, as martyrs with the evidence 
of their execution on them — slain witji the axe, the 
mode of capital punishment practiced by Rome before 
the establishment of the Empire. The use of the 
term beheaded seems to denote that all marytrs, 
whether under the Republic or the Empire, whether 
recent or remote, are to be included in these " wit- 



ADVENT OF JESUS CHRIST. 



nesses of Jesus." Now they are seen as raised up and 
enthroned. 

Still another company of sufferers are introduced: 
"And such as worshipped not the beast, neither his 
image, and received not the mark upon their fore- 
head and upon their hand." The triumph of Christ 
is shared not by the martyrs only but by all who under 
the sway of the Beast and the False Prophet suffered 
reproach, imprisonment, loss of goods, maltreatment, 
exile. The words "such as" (oitines) point to a 
class distinct from the martyrs mentioned just before. 
Cyprian (fourth Cen.) noted the distinction; so do 
Swete, Edwards and others. John names particu- 
larly these two classes, because of their loyalty to 
Christ in suffering and death. Not all of them are 
slain, but all have the martyr spirit. Some of the last 
class may survive till the Advent, in which case they 
will be of those who shall not sleep (i Cor. xv: 51). 

Of all these disciples of the Lord Jesus, the en- 
throned, the martyrs, and the confessors, John says 
" they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." 
By the words " lived and reigned " we understand 
and must understand their resurrection from the dead 
and their " change " if alive at the Lord's coming. 
So John himself understood it, for he adds, " This is 
the first resurrection." Some 42 times this term res- 
urrection occurs in the New Testament, and once with 
a prepositional affix (Phil, iii: 11), and in each in- 
stance its application is confined to the raising up of 
the dead. Hence John says, " The rest of the dead 
lived not until the thousand years should be finished." 



138 



THE REVELATION. 



Many expositors, however, deny that the passage 
teaches a bodily resurrection. They see in it no more 
than a revival of the martyr spirit and of the princi- 
ples of righteousness and truth for which the martyrs 
suffered. With them here is announced a spiritual 
resurrection, and not a physical one. Let such terms 
be substituted for those of John, and the absurdity of 
the view will be quite apparent : " I saw the ' prin- 
ciples ' of those who had been beheaded for the testi- 
mony of Jesus ; and the * principles ' of those who 
repudiated the Beast ; and the ' principles 9 lived and 
reigned with Christ a thousand years. This is the 
first resurrection of the ' martyr spirit.' On these 
' principles ' the second death hath no power. But 
the rest of the ' principles ' lived not until the thou- 
sand years were finished." Believe it who can that 
John wrote such nonsense as this, we cannot. Never 
once in the N. T. is the term resurrection used in this 
sense. 

It is sometimes said that Rev. xx: 4-6 is the only 
passage of Scripture which teaches a distinct and sep- 
arate resurrection for the righteous. If true, this 
should not disturb anyone. One unmistakable state- 
ment from God should convince and satisfy even the 
most skeptical. Matthew alone tells us that many of 
the dead saints arose at Jesus' death and resurrec- 
tion and appeared to many in the city (Matt, xxvii: 
52, 53), but does any Christian doubt it? But the 
assertion is not true. Other Scripture teaches that 
the righteous are raised up before the wicked — theirs 
is an out-resurrection from the dead. Isa. xxv: 7-9 



ADVENT OF JESUS CHRIST. 



139 



and Hosea xiii: 14 point to such a resurrection. 
Dan. xii: 2 clearly affirms it: "And many of them that 
sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to 
everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting 
contempt." " Many of " does not mean all; the res- 
urrection here is not total, it is selective, many from 
among the whole number of the dead awake, the 
prophet affirms. We think Bush and Tregelles are 
right in translating thus : " these to everlasting life ;" 
4( those to shame," etc., and Tragelles goes on to say, 
" those " of the second part do not awake when 
*' these " of the first part awake. 

In Jno. v: 29 Jesus speaks of a " resurrection of 
life," and a " resurrection of judgment." But in ver. 
24 He emphatically declares that believers " shall not 
come into judgment." These two resurrections ap- 
pear to be distinct both as to character and time. In 
Lu. xx : 35 the Lord speaks of a resurrection which 
shall be " from (ek) the dead," as if it were separate 
from that of the wicked, the righteous being taken 
out from among them. Paul in Phil, iii: 11 writes of 
his intense longing to " attain unto the resurrection 
from the dead." His language is very precise and 
emphatic. Literally this he says : " If by any means 
I may attain unto the out-resurrection from the dead." 
Paul confidently expected a resurrection for the saved 
as totally distinct in time from that of the unsaved; it 
is to be one " out from among " them. All this Scrip- 
ture confirms the glorious revelation in chap, xx : 4, 5 
of " the first resurrection," which is confined to the 
saints of God, and in which the wicked do not share. 



140 



THE REVELATION. 



The resurrection of the holy dead takes place when 
• Christ comes, I Cor. xv: 20, 23; 1 Thess. iv: 14-17. 
At His " Shout " they are awakened, and by His 
Voice they are called forth from their graves. But 
here in the Apocalypse the order of events seems to be 
this: (1) destruction of Antichrist; (2) imprison- 
ment of Satan; (3) resurrection of all the righteous 
dead and change of believers still living at that time 
and their enthronement. But other Scripture, even 
the Revelation itself , gives a somewhat different order. 
We learn from 1 Thess. iv: 13-17 that the first act of 
the Lord at His coming will be to raise the sleeping 
saints, change living believers, and then together both 
shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord 
in the air. They come with the Lord to the earth 
as the term "to meet" imports (Lillie). Augustine 
perceived this, " it is as He is coming, not abiding, 
that we shall go to meet Him." As an ancient writer 
expresses it, " We shall be caught away to meet Christ, 
that all may come with the Lord to battle " (Am- 
brosiaster). The rapture of the saints to meet the 
advancing Saviour obviously is put by Paul before 
the destruction of Antichrist and the binding of Satan. 
In Rev. xi: 17, 18, the resurrection of the dead and 
the distribution of rewards to them is placed before 
the destroyers of the earth are themselves destroyed. 
So, too, in the program chapter (xiv) the harvest of 
the saints and their garnering precedes the awful judg- 
ment of the Vintage, xiv: 14-21. Is there, therefore, 
discrepancy between the various accounts of the events 
at the time of the end? There seems to be at first 



ADVENT OF JESUS CHRIST. 



sight, but it is only apparently so. In Rev. xix : 20-xx : 
6 the Seer does not follow a strict chronological order. 
He groups the events together as if they were sim- 
ultaneous (as indeed they are) without noting their 
succession. 

Besides, prominence is here given to the doom of 
the great foes, the Beast, the False Prophet, and the 
Dragon. These have been filling the field of vision 
from the twelfth chapter down to this point. These 
horrible adversaries have been slaughtering the saints, 
blaspheming God, filling earth with blood and tears, 
with ruin and crimes, indescribable. It is fitting, it 
almost seems necessary and right, that their judgment 
and perdition should be described at once. The order 
is one of rank, not of time. We see the like order in 
Matt, xiii: 41-43, where the tares are first burned, 
and then the righteous shine forth in the kingdom 
of their Father. Yet, in point of fact, the righteous 
are gathered before the tares are burned, cf. Rev. 
xiv: 14-21. So, too, in chap, xix: 7, 8, the Marriage 
of the Lamb appears to precede the judgment of the 
Beast and the destruction of his hostile army. We 
believe that the Scriptures present the order of events 
at the Coming of Christ as follows: 1, The appearing 
of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven; 2, the 
resurrection of the sleeping saints and the change of 
living believers; 3, the ascension of all the saved to 
meet Him in the air; 4, the descent of the Lord with 
His glorious retinue to earth; 5, Antichrist and his 
False Prophet hurled into the Lake of Fire ; 6, the de- 
struction of the hostile armies of the Beast; 7, impris- 



THE REVELATION. 



onment of Satan; 8, judgment of the nations (Matt, 
xxv : 31-46); 9, Millennial Kingdom and Glory. 

" This is the first resurrection.'' The term " first " 
is to be understood numerically, and not as to rank; 
it marks the order of time. Is there to be a second? 
Unquestionably. It is described in xx: 12, 13. It is 
objected that it is not called the second resurrection. 
Neither is there mention of the first death, although 
the " second death " is named twice, vers. 6, 14. There 
is no need. In the one case first is understood ; in the 
other second is. Before this " first " there is no resur- 
rection named or referred to in the book, if we read 
it aright. For resurrection is the immediate result 
of the coming and presence of Jesus Christ, and as He 
comes in connection with this " first/' and, hence, it is 
called first, no other has taken place. Many excellent 
and devout students of the Bible, however, believe that 
a previous resurrection has occurred, that of the 
Church, the Body of Christ, and they think it is set 
forth in the persons of the four and twenty Elders 
before the Throne, chap. iv. We have dealt with that 
passage already. Let it now be observed that if that 
were so, then we can see neither meaning nor force 
in this " first." It is a blunder. But no mistake is 
found in the Apocalypse. This is absolutely the first, 
no other in the record of the book has there been. 
For it is now, in these two chapters, xix, xx: 6, that 
Christ, " the resurrection and the life," actually ap- 
pears in power and great glory. " Behold, he cometh 
with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they 
also which pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth 



ADVENT OF JESUS CHRIST. 



shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen." This 
majestic sentence is the central theme of the Apoc- 
alypse. Throughout the book the theme is repeated 
again and again. But in xix : i iff., He visibly appears ; 
and immediately the resurrection ensues. No resur- 
rection precedes this of xx: 4-6. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Last Revolt and Final Judgment, xx: 7-15, 

Two mysterious and extraordinary events are 
recorded in this section. The first is, Satan's release 
from prison, and his last revolt and eternal doom, 
xx : 7-10. A thousand years work no change in his 
character or methods. As soon as he is set free from 
the abyss he begins his old habit of deceit and rebel- 
lion against the Most High, and hostility toward His 
people. When he was ejected from his lofty place and 
cast to earth (xii: 12) he had but a " short time." 
Now he has but a " little time/' but he uses it to the 
uttermost in furtherance of his malignant aims. His 
success is marvellous. A countless throng, described 
as gathered from the " four corners of the earth/' 
Gog and Magog, march against " the camp of the 
saints, and the beloved city." But the rebellion ends 
most disastrously to the rebels. Before they strike 
a blow the fire from heaven devours them. Their 
crafty and hateful deceiver is hurled into the Lake of 
Fire. There he encounters once more his old accom- 
plices and dupes, the Beast and the False Prophet. 
They are still alive after a 1,000 years have run their 
course. Such is the eternal doom of Satan; we never 
hear of him more. Gog and Magog here must not 
be confounded with Gog of Ezekiel xxxviii, xxxix. 

144 



LAST REVOLT AND FINAL JUDGMENT. 145 



The two are quite distinct, for Gog of Ezekiel appears 
before the thousand years, whereas the Gog of John 
is after that period. Ezekiel's Gog comes from " the 
north," whereas this people has no definite geograph- 
ical associations. The attack by the Gog of Ezekiel 
is connected with Antichrist, but here that great enemy 
has no part*; he had been cast into the Lake of Fire 
long before this. 

The second event is the Final Judgment, xx: II-15. 
This transcendently majestic scene occurs after the 
thousand years, and after the final rebellion of Gog, 
and after the Devil has been cast into the Lake of Fire, 
" which is the second death " — how long after we are 
not told, and no mortal knows. Before the judgment- 
throne appear the dead, " the great and the small." 
By " the dead " we understand all our race, with the 
exception of those who are the blessed sharers in 
" the first resurrection ;" all who died before the 
thousand years, and all who die after that period, and 
to the end of time, who are unsaved. 

"And books were opened," L e., the records of each 
human life in the vast assembly were produced. That 
such records are kept and will be opened in due time 
seems evident from Psa. lvi: 8; Mai. iii: 16; Dan. 
xii: 1. There will be present also the book of life 
(iii: 5; xiii: 8; xxi: 27); for some who are saved 
may die during the thousand years, and their resur- 
rection and their judgment will at this time take place. 
The first resurrection saints will have had theirs long 
before. 

The rule of judgment will be " works," cf . ii : 23 ; 



146 



THE REVELATION. 



Matt, xvi: 27. Even in the case of Christians who 
have their part in the first resurrection, their mani- 
festation before the judgment-seat of Christ will bring 
to light their deeds " done in the body, according to 
what they have done, whether good or bad " (2 
Cor. v: 10). 

The issue of the great trial will be, that whosoever 
is not found written in the book of life will be cast 
into the Lake of Fire. 

Death and Hades will, likewise, be cast into thai 
fearful Lake. Death, it seems, is not abolished until 
the Great White Throne is set up and human destiny 
is forever settled. With this teaching of the Apoc- 
alypse the apostle Paul agrees, for he assures us that 
" the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death " 
( 1 Cor. xv : 26) . Death, therefore, is not abolished even 
by the return of Christ, nor at the resurrection of those 
that are Christ's. The Advent is not a single point of 
time, but a period, beginning with His appearing and 
ending with the delivering up of the kingdom to God 
(1 Cor. xv : 24-28). But during the Millennial reign 
death will be the exception, not the rule as it now is. 
The prophets declare that at that time human life will 
be greatly prolonged, Isa. lxv : 20-22 : " There shall 
be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man 
that hath not filled his days : for the child shall die an 
hundred years old, and the sinner being an hundred 
years old shall be accursed." " Premature death, and 
even death in a moderate old age, shall be unknown; 
he who dies a hundred years old shall be considered 
either as dying in childhood, or as cut off by a special 



LAST REVOLT AND FINAL JUDGMENT. 147 



malediction" (Alexander). " For as the days of a 
tree shall be the days of my people." Some trees live 
for centuries; so shall be the life of the righteous in 
that day, saith Jehovah. 



CHAPTER XV. 



Vision of the City of God, xxi-xxii: 7. 

Only brief notes on this great section of the book 
can we venture to offer. The revelation here is so 
transcendently sublime, so totally beyond all earthly 
knowledge and experience, that adequate interpreta- 
tion is impossible ; we must wait till we shall see its 
accomplishment to form just conceptions of its sur- 
passing grandeur and beauty. 

1. It is announced there shall be a new heaven and 
a new earth; and there shall be no more sea. The 
fulfilment of this wonderful prediction will involve a 
fundamental change in the physical constitution of 
the world that now is and also of the visible heavens. 
Life would be impossible if the sea was " no more." 
Other Scripture gives assurance of the like trans- 
formation of the physical universe with which we are 
connected. " For, behold, I create new heavens and 
a new earth: and the former things shall not be 
remembered, nor come into mind,' , Isa. lxv: 17 (cf. 
2 Pet. iii: 5-13). He who made the world and all it 
contains can surely re-create it, clearing it of every 
vestige of sin and misery, of its limitations and its 
imperfections, and fitting it for the dwelling of per- 
fect beings and of God's supreme glory. John is bid- 
den, Write, for these things are true and faithful ; they 
shall not fail to come to pass. 

148 



VISION OF THE CTIY OF GOD. 



2. Descent of the new Jerusalem into the glorified 
earth, i: 2-4. The wicked and apostate system that 
once flourished had its capital city, Babylon. The pure 
and holy world is to have its bright and happy Capital, 
the new Jerusalem which comes out of heaven from 
God. In it will be the Shekinah, the Divine Presence, 
of which the glory in the Tabernacle and in the Tem- 
ple was but a faint shadow, a dim reflection. He 
will dwell with the blessed inhabitants of the fair City 
— the ultimate fulfilment of all that lies hidden in 
the name, Immanuel. It will be in reality the sorrow- 
less state, painless bliss, deathless life. Think how 
great a chasm would be made in our English tongue 
if all the words telling of grief and suffering, of 
tears and sobs, of pain and death, were stricken from 
it! No such terms will find a place in the language 
of the new Jerusalem, for the miseries and woes which 
give them birth will never be known there. " God 
shall wipe away every tear from their eyes." He 
will expunge the very fountain of tears. There will 
be nothing in the surroundings to call forth tears, 
there will be no capacity in the saved to weep. The 
eighth verse describes those who shall have no share 
in the bliss. The " fearful " means the cowardly, 
those who like craven soldiers turn their backs and 
flee when they encounter the enemy-apostates, in short. 
To these are joined the faithless, the abominable, 
murderers, fornicators, sorcerers and liars. Only " he 
that overcometh " shall possess this infinite heritage. 

3. Description of the Heavenly City, xxi: 9-xxii: 5. 
This section gives us a nearer view of the Holy 



THE REVELATION. 



City. It is very noteworthy that the view was given 
John through the ministry of one of the angels of the 
Seven Vials. It was one of these same angels who 
showed him the " judgment of the great harlot," 
xvii: I. It was fitting that he who had furnished the 
vision of the ungodly and apostate city, should present 
the Seer with the vision of the Heavenly City. 

(a.) Its Structure and Dimensions, xxi: 9-17. 
John's point of view is that of " a mountain, great and 
high," ver. 10. Ezekiel (xlii: 2if) was also set upon 
a mountain when he was shown " the frame of a city " 
— a vision which corresponds in some degree with this 
of John, and which probably refers to the same thing. 
The descent here mentioned is identical with that of 
ver. 2. He returns to the subject now to give a 
fuller description. The first thing that arrests his 
attention is the City's flashing light, " Her light was 
like unto a stone most precious, as it were a jasper 
stone, clear as crystal." The term "light " is peculiar; 
not light in the abstract, but a body of light, as a 
star, a blazing luminary. The whole great City glowed 
with a light as a mighty sun. Crystaline and smoke- 
less flame was the brilliant splendor with which it 
shone. Gems of the rarest and purest quality, gold 
that is transparent like the finest glass, are the only 
symbols which even an inspired prophet can use to 
set forth its majestic glory. 

The Wall surrounding it had twelve foundations 
containing the names of the twelve Apostles of the 
Lamb, ver. 14, and these were garnished with " all 
manner of precious stones." Twelve gems are men- * 



VISION OF THE CTIY OF GOD. 



151 



tioned as adorning the foundations. Swete writes 
that the stones " in the main are of four colors, viz. : 
blue (sapphire, Jacinth, amethyst), green (Jasper, 
chalcedony, emerald, beryl, topaz, chrysoprasus), red 
(sardonyx, sardius), yellow (chrysolite)." All this 
tends to deepen and clarify the conception of the ex- 
quisite beauty, the dazzling glory, the preciousness 
and wealth of the Heavenly City. 

The City lies four-square, is a perfect cube. Its 
encompassing wall is pierced by twelve Tower-gates, 
whereat twelve angels are stationed as royal guards or 
keepers. The gates have the names of the twelve 
tribes of Israel. Three gates are found in each side 
of the squares, each is a pure pearl. The combination 
of the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve Apostles 
of the Lamb appears to signify the unity and the 
totality of the redeemed, both of Israel and of the 
Christian Body. All distinctions of race, creed and 
age will be unknown in the Holy City. 

The wall's height is given as 144 cubits, probably 
equalling 216 feet. Its height is exactly the square of 
twelve. The length, breadth and height are equal 
(ver. 16), and they measure 12,000 stadia. A stadia 
is given as 606% feet, and the whole would be the 
stupendous sum of nearly 1,400 English miles. 

(b.) Its Sanctuary, Light, Riches and Inhabitants, 
xxi: 22-27. 1^ has no Temple as had the earthly 
Jerusalem; God and the Lamb are its Temple. Wor- 
ship will not need any ceremony or rite, ritual or sacred 
place, in order to be earnest and wholehearted. Noth- 



152 



THE REVELATION. 



ing will thrust itself between the soul and Him who 
is loved; fellowship will be direct and unbroken. 

The City's light will be the Lord's radiant presence. 
It will need neither sun nor moon. The Lord's infinite 
glory will be its light. It will be forever safe, its 
gates will never be shut, its riches secure, its holiness 
unstained and untarnished by any breath of impurity. 

(c.) Its perfect bliss, xxii: 1-5. Paradise is finally 
and forever restored. 

The Epilogue, xxii: 6-21. 

The Prologue is chap, i: 1-8, eight verses; the 
Epilogue contains sixteen verses, twice as many. The 
Coming of the Lord is the pre-eminent theme of both. 
In the Prologue we have these majestic words: " Be- 
hold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see 
him, and they which pierced him; and all kindreds of 
the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. ,, 
But this, sublime as it is, is surpassed by the threefold 
testimony of the Advent in the Epilogue. " Behold, 
I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings 
of the prophecy of this book," xxii : 7. "And behold, 
I come quickly; and my reward is with me to give to 
every man as his work shall be," xxii : 12. " He that 
testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly; 
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus," xxii : 20. 

There are seven " blessings " pronounced on those 
who do or suffer certain things. They are : 

1. i: 3; blessing on him who reads and they who 
hear the words of the prophecy of this book. 



VISION OF THE CTIY OF GOD. 



153 



2. xiv: 13 ; blessing on the dead who die in the Lord 
from henceforth, for the Lord is speedily coming, they 
shall be raised up in the power of an endless life. 

3. xvi: 15; blessing on him who watches and keeps 
his garments, for the Lord is coming as a thief, swiftly, 
suddenly. 

4. xix: 9; blessing on him who is called to the 
marriage supper of the Lamb. 

5. xx : 6; blessing on him who has part in the first 
resurrection. 

6. xxii: 7; blessing on him who keeps the sayings 
of this book, the Lord is at hand. 

7. xxii: 14; blessing on him who has washed his 
robes that he may enter into the Holy City, R. V. 

A special woe is denounced against him who shall 
tamper with the book's contents, xxii: 18, 19. Words 
such as these are not attached to any other book of 
Scripture (cf. Deut. iv: 2; xii: 32), and they guard 
with jealous urgency its integrity, and solemnly warn 
against any mutilation of it; for the Apocalypse is 
God's, divine, perfect, closed, certified and signed not 
only by the apostolic name, " I John," but the far 
greater name, " I Jesus." It is attested as no other is 
in all the Bible. How reverently and honestly and 
earnestly it should be read and studied. 



APR 8 1908 



